Vol 6 Issue 36

@guwahatiplus | /c/gplusguwahati www.guwahatiplus.com

INSIDE

Volume 06 | Issue 36 June 29 - July 05 , 2019 Price `10

44 Assam rivers listed among most polluted in India, Bharalu the worst case scenario PG 06

Dist admin falters in providing adequate facilities to Ambabuchi pilgrims Nehal Jain @NehalJain96

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he district administration, along with concerned authorities, had made tall claims of preparations for Ambubachi Mela that concluded in the city on June 26, Wednesday. The administration had estimated the total expense to conduct the festival at Rs 2. 60 crores.

In a press briefing dated June 12, the Chairman of the Assam Tourism Development Corporation (ATDC), Jayanta Malla Baruah, had announced that there would be provisions for drinking water, rest points and make-shift toilets in all the four routes leading to the Kamakhya Temple premises.

However, devotees of the temple faced a harrowing experience trying to avail these facilities.

“In the entire stretch from the foothill of Nilachal hill to the temple, I struggled to find a public toilet facility for women. Finally, I found one a few metres ahead of the Kamakhya Temple which was utterly unhygienic and unclean,” expressed Sapna Devi, a devotee who had travelled from West Bengal to attend the annual religious festival.

There was no provision of free drinking water for the devotees in the stretch either.

“The government should have at least provided us with drinking water on the way to the shrine. In this hot and humid weather, walking on that steep road to reach the temple felt like a task. I can only imagine the plight of ailing devotees,” expressed another devotee.

Further, provisions like roundthe-clock devotional music were not being played on any of the four routes, when this correspondent surveyed the main route leading to Kamakhya Temple on foot.

“We were told that the state government will provide free drinking water and toilet facilities on all routes leading to the temple. But in reality, I have not seen any such facilities. While many volunteers could be seen at the temple premises and the main route, none could be found at the Mekhela Ujoa Path to help us dur-

ing any eventuality,” said Harsh Sharma, who took the Mekhela Ujoa Path to reach the temple on the third day of the festival.

Additionally, the authorities had constructed footwear stands for the convenience of devotees but failed to man them. When this correspondent visited the temple on the third day of festivities, the footwear stands were found to have been torn and turned into human shelter.

In spite of the state government setting up six rest camps across the city, devotees were also seen taking refuge on footpaths and dividers on the Bharalumukh–Maligaon stretch.

It must be noted that the Assam Tourism Development Corporation (ATDC) claimed to have spent Rs 1.36 crores for publicity of the event, decoration of the Kamakhya Temple and the approaching roads with ornamental lights, and conducting the cultural programs.

Additionally, an amount of Rs 30 lakhs was allocated by the Publ c Health Engineering (PHE) department for construction of adequate number of toilets for the devotees to keep the area open defecation-free during the Mela days.

And, the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) allocated Rs 23 lakhs for maintaining cleanliness and hygiene in and around the Kamakhya Temple. The GMC was also responsible for steady supply of drinking water through temporary pipelines and the illumination of streets during the Ambubachi Mela.

Commissioner of Guwahati Municipal Corporation, Debeswar Malakar, had announced placing of around 100 dustbins in the city but roadside dumping of plastic glasses and plates was a common sight during the Mela days. The devotees, speaking to G Plus, blamed it on the lack of adequate number of dustbins.

During the five days of festival, most of the facilities promised by the authorities were nowhere to be found. The only respite to devotees was the presence of bhandaras set up by various groups of people providing food and water to the devotees.

The politics behind the elephant transfer drama

Ambubachi Fesitval 2019 in pictures on the Centre Spread PG 12-13

PG 09

Bhramyaman Theatre controversy:

Plagiarism slur on leading dramatist Rangman Das @guwahatiplus Who said that Ravi Sarma should

be put through the “squat-andstand” punishment routine holding his ears?

Is Abhijit Bhattacharyya the one

who calls all the shots in the mobile theatre industry?

Who is the journalist who

instigated Pranjana Dutta not to work with Bordoichila Theatre?

The latest promo material of Bordoichila Theatre and its play “Mahiyashi”

Who “stole” the script of “Mahiyashi” from the producer’s residence?

Is it a conspiracy to finish off Pranjana Dutta’s career or is it a publicity stunt by Rajmukut Theatre?

G Plus carries out a post mortem.

detailed story on 02- 03

Deepor Beel residents plan stir against proposed new double-line railway track Srijit Banerjee @SrijitBanerjee

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he residents of Deepor Beel came out to highlight the dangers that would be posed against the wildlife in the area by the proposed construction of the double-line railway track which would pass through the water body and the elephant corridors near the Rani forest.

Addressing the media, Pramod Kalita, a resident of the area, pointed out that the proposed railway track would pass through four elephant crossings in the area and the Railways have proposed to construct a tunnel in only one of the crossings leaving the other three exposed. “The Railways have identified four elephant corridors, but they have proposed to build a tunnel in only one such crossing leaving the rest open. That would be dangerous for the elephants since there will be two railway lines,” said

Kalita.

“The government should take steps to ensure safe passage of the animals on all the four elephant corridors or else we will start a protest against the construction of the new tracks.

They are going to construct the new Deepor Beel resident Pramod Kalita addressing the media tracks without undertaking any Dump yard has destroyed the eco proper study. Even the ecology of system of the beel. Continuous conthe Rani forest will be hampered. tamination of the water because of Ever since the old railway line bethe waste and industrial pollution gan operating, 14 elephants have has been responsible for death of died after getting hit by trains passmany marine lives. Earlier, in a suring through those crossings. We are vey carried out by the government thinking of going to the National when they declared Deepor Beel as Green Tribunal in regard to the isa Ramsar Site, 230 different species sue,” Kalita further informed. of birds were identified and when The residents further highlightthey conducted a survey recently it ed the continuous contamination of was revealed that only 63 species water in Deepor Beel because of the were left,” said Kalita.

Boragaon dumping ground. “The n

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Lead Story

G PLUS | June 29 - July 05 , 2019

Bhramyaman Theatre controversy: Plagiarism slur on leading dramatist Theatre, Nazrul Islam’s opinion:

fROM Page 01

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hat exactly is happening within the mobile theatre fraternity of Assam – an industry that has earned the respect of the entire country? An industry that has carved its own niche? An industry with crores of rupees in turnover has always been a profitable sector and the current times are no different.

And, despite its immense success over the years and huge popularity among the public, the industry has come under scrutiny and debate purely because of just one name – playwright Abhijit Bhattacharyya!

Recently in a press conference at the Guwahati Press Club, popular film and theatre actress Pranjana Dutta had dragged in the name of Abhijit Bhattacharyya blowing the lid off the controversy. The topical point of the press conference was the unilateral cancellation of the agreement that Bordoichila Theatre had with Pranjana Dutta – without any notice at that – thereby rendering her a victim.

Why did Bordoichila Theatre do this?

For the 2019-20 season, Pranjana Dutta (of “Mirabai” fame) had come into contract with Bordoichila Theatre for a play produced

by Nazrul Islam. Having created ripples the previous season on the Hengool Theatre stage with the play “Mirabai” written and produced by Himangshu Prasad Das, Pranajana was signed up by Bordoichila Theatre for the current season in three title roles of three plays scripted by Abhijit Bhattacharyya. However, controversy erupted on June 12 last after Pranjana had obtained the relevant scripts. Apparently, the current season’s play “Mahiyashi,” set to be staged by Bordoichila Theatre, had more than its share of similarities with the previous season’s play “Mirabai” (staged by Hengool Theatre) in which Pranjana had acted; in fact as many as 29 scenes of Abhijit Bhattacharyya’s “Mahiyashi” had remarkable similarities with Himangshu Prasad Das’s “Mirabai.” The actress, in a discussion with the producer, had mentioned this disconcerting factor. And this supposed “outrage” against the work of Abhijit Bhattacharyya became instrumental in Pranjana earning the ire of the Theatre’s management. In three days flat after the incident, Pranjana’s contract stood null and void and she was informed of the same by two representatives of the Bordoichila Theatre who however could not offer any reasonable explanation for the action.

Abhijit Bhattacharyya (L) and Pranjana Dutta (R)

What did Pranjana have to say?

Apart from being wedded to noted film director Achyut Bhagawati, Pranjana Dutta, herself a well-entrenched and highly respected actress, had this to say: Prior to the promo shoot of “Mahiyashi,” Pranjana had sought the script of the play. However, instead of giving her the script, the playwright Abhijit Bhattacharyya tried to confuse Pranjana with several petty and unrelated opinions. Bhattacharyya also passed derogatory comments terming her as a newbie in the mobile theatre industry. Subsequently, on 12th June, Pranjana managed to obtain the script of “Mahiyashi” and on reading the same found that 29 scenes were similar to the previous season’s play “Mirabai” that was staged by Hengool Theatre.

Pranjana apprised the producer of the play of the entire development.

However, the producer informed Pranjana that no changes would be incorporated in the script of “Mahiyashi.” Subsequent to this, Bordoichila Theatre unilaterally cancelled the contract it had signed with the actress. The actress is of the opinion that the producer is basically towing the line of playwright Abhijit Bhattacharyya even when it has come to the issue of casting and selection of actors and actresses. She has also brought in allegations of the Theatre’s management putting her in a great spot of difficulty at the very onset of the theatre season and that too, in the

absence of her husband.

What did Ravi Sarma say while showing empathy to Pranjana Dutta?

qualifications of Bhattacharyya to decide on the choice and remunerations of actors and technical staff.

He had gone on to term as “fools” all those actors and actresses who “sucked up” to Abhijit Bhattacharyya in hope of securing good roles. He had also blamed the lack of unity among the mobile theatre fraternity of actors and technicians as the reason for the continuing high-handedness of Abhijit Bhattacharyya.

Who said, “He (apparent reference to Ravi Sarma) will have to go through the “squat-andstand” punishment routine holding his ears?”

Ravi Sarma Subsequent to Pranjana Dutta’s contract being unilaterally cancelled by Bordoichila Theatre, playwright Abhijit Bhattacharyya’s role was brought into the realm of discussion and debate by actor Ravi Sarma. Back in 2018, Ravi Sarma had already declared that he would never return to work in the mobile theatre industry and would oppose all those working against the true interests of the industry (including actors) until and unless the high-handedness of Abhijit Bhattacharyya stopped. Ravi had questioned the credibility and

Having blown the lid of the murky ongoings within the mobile theatre industry, Ravi Sarma has now been hauled up for his obtrusiveness by none other than the veteran and venerable mobile theatre actor, Pranjit Das. Besides accusing him of being a non-actor in the mobile theatre scenario, Das said that because of his uncalled-for utterances, Ravi Sarma should be made to kneel down holding his ears. “Even a punch on his nose doesn’t get him to say his dialogues properly; he himself is not fit for mobile theatre,” said a visibly agitated Pranjit Das on a video that is currently circulating on social media.

Producer in Bordoichila

With regard to the various discussions on actress Pranjana Dutta (who was contracted for the current season with Bordoichila Theatre) over different media platforms that are currently going on, producer of Bordoichila Theatre, Nazrul Islam recently called for a press conference at Nalbari. According to Islam, for the current season, the Theatre had finalised the staging of three plays written

by Abhijit Bhattacharyya. The plays to be staged are, “Moromor Bandhobi Bidaai Diya,” “Mahiyashi” and “Mone Bisora Morom.”

Besides famed mobile theatre actors, Mridul Bhuyan and Pranjana Dutta, several other actors and actresses had also been brought under contract. In the meantime, promo materials including banners, posters etc were also put up.

Further, the plans and dates for the video recording of a song of “Mahiyashi” were also finalised.

In this situation, Pranjana Dutta, without having properly read the play “Mahiyashi,” stubbornly decided not to enact the given role in the play. Hereafter, even after producer Islam’s request to Pranjana to go through the script of the play “Mahiyashi,” Pranajana remained adamant in her decision not to be part of the plays of Bordoichila Theatre. Getting a sense of her obstinacy, the Theatre’s management sent its representative and its editor to Pranjana to covey the decision of cancelling her contract and the duo demanded the refund of the advance money paid to her.

Pranjana however refused to refund the money.

Who is the journalist who instigated Pranjana?

The producer of Bordoichila Theatre, Nazrul Islam, has raised the following allegations. In the midst of this whole controversy, a cine journalist visited him at his residence saying that he wanted to read the play “Mahiyashi.” Under the pretext of the same, the journalist took away the script and thereafter instigated Pranjana against enacting the offered role saying that the character she was given did not hold too much importance in the context of the play. Moreover, the journalist also went on to influence the director of Ma Studios, music director Ajoy Phukan, to desist from continuing to carry out the musical requirements of Bordoichila Theatre for the current season. Islam named the journalist as Amiya Talukdar. n Continued on Page 03

Lead Story

G PLUS | June 29 - July 05 , 2019 A twist in the tale: So is this an attempt to finish off Pranjana Dutta’s career or a publicity stunt of Rajmukut Theatre?

The controversy surrounding the mobile theatre industry over the past week has certainly

Sunita Kaushik given way to a conducive and constructive atmosphere for

Kopil Bora both theatre practitioners and audiences. However, is it prudent that things have come to such a pass where a career in mobile theatre of a talented and highly successful actress is on the verge of being destroyed purely because of her pertinent questions raised against a supposedly powerful dramatist?

With the big budgets that are involved in mobile theatre productions, is it such a simple

matter that a leading actress can be removed from her leading role right at the onset of the season purely on the basis of a complaint made by her? Or was it Abhijit Bhattacharyya’s purposeful attempt to deface Pranjana Dutta’s powerful personality cultivated by her portrayal in “Mirabai” in the previous season, that he has this time written a similar role and attempted to stage the same in “Mahiyashi?”

Or again, was it a conspiracy hatched by that mysterious journalist to wean Pranjana away from Bordoichila Theatre at the behest of the management of another Theatre group?

Lest we forget: just a few days ago, actress Sunita Kaushik, who was set to work in leading roles by Rajmukut Theatre for the current season had summarily broken her contract to leave this theatre group “for some special reasons.” The actress had announced this decision of hers through social media. No wonder, Rajmukut Theatre was on the urgent lookout for an actress of calibre to fill in for their leading roles. After all, Kopil Bora was returning to mobile theatre after 11 long years. But the lead actress was suddenly not available any more. It was in this situation that Pranjana dropped her bombshell at the Guwahati Press Club. And it was the same Pranjana who had created ripples across the state with her role in “Mirabai.” That the same Pranjana would enact an equally belligerent role in “Mahiyashi” with Bordoichila this season had already caught the fancy of theatre lovers.

Suddenly however and in dramatic fashion, the entire plans of two gigantic theatre groups of the state changed. Sunita Kaushik left Rajmukut. Around the same time, under controversial circumstances, Bordoichila Theatre unilaterally cancelled Pranjana Dutta’s contract. Within a mere three days, a new poster came up bearing Pranjana in a new get-up and yet the character she’d portray was familiar from the last season. And it was a Rajmukut Theatre poster!

It was Pranjana Dutta in a new, big-budget Rajmukut production sporting the character of a “Veerangana!” We leave the question to the reader: was the entire exercise a conspiracy to finish off Pranjana Dutta’s mobile theatre career or was it a brilliant marketing strategy cum publicity stunt of Rajmukut Theatre?

against the “victimization” of Pranjana Dutta.

Jatin Bora

Jatin Bora’s opinion: Actor Jatin Bora has termed the whole development as unfortunate. He has opined that the entire issue could have been resolved amicably by Bordoichila Theatre and Prajana through dialogue and discussion. Bora has virtually implored everyone involved with mobile theatre that they should work in the interest of keeping alive the fair name of this famed industry of Assam so that the public which endears itself to the industry is not disillusioned and the industry’s image is not sullied. To that extent, Jatin Bora has offered an impactful opinion that if Abhijit Bhattacharyya’s scripts are so poor, the producers just need not accept his scripts any more.

G Plus’s conclusions:

Besides organising and addressing a press conference, actress Pranjana Dutta has not shirked from expressing her mind clearly at various open platforms and in front of various journalists.

As in earlier instances, Ravi Sarma has again reiterated his stance against the current situation of the mobile theatre industry while lending his moral support to Pranjana.

He is the only actor to have publicly spoken out

The entire theatre-loving audience of Assam is today sympathising with Pranjana Dutta. “Boycott Bordoichila” seems to be a clarion call among them.

Majuli, in the meantime, has barred Bordoichila from performing there. Social media is agog with people commenting that Abhijit Bhattacharyya’s plays are best left unwatched.

A section of revered actors have made videos on Facebook condemning Ravi Sarma’s stance and comments.

What should this mean? Is Abhijit Bhattacharyya indispensable to Assam’s mobile theatre industry?

While a section of producers keep harping that it is only Abhijit Bhattacharyya’s plays that are popular

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among the public, plays like Himangshu Prasad Das’s “Mirabai,” Hillol Kumar Pathak’s “Mission Asomiya,” Rajdweep’s “Baoli Mur Priya,” Champak Sarma’s “Radhai Namane Badha,” Pallav Paban’s “Beimaan Bhagabaan,” Mridul Chutia’s “Suryyagrahan” have remained exceedingly successful and popular plays among the masses besides garnering good business.

All this is indicative that Abhijit Bhattacharyya is not indispensable. If drama is good and contextual, it will be received and accepted well by its audience.

There are several good and talented dramatists in Assam.

Three good plays annually from each of them would fulfil their potential and satisfy their audiences. It is just that producers have to be receptive to their work.

4 Concern

G PLUS | June 29 - July 05 , 2019

No respite in human trafficking cases, questions raised on state’s preparedness Saumya Mishra @saumyamishra03

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everal cases of human trafficking have come to the fore from across the state over the past three months, shifting the focus back on this sensitive topic and the need for adequate mechanisms to check the rise in the number of such cases.

In a recent case, a 15-year-old girl from Assam was trafficked from Dhubri and sold off in Haryana. She was later rescued

by Assam police officials and brought back to the state last week.

She was lured into leaving the state on the false promise of marriage but was later sold off to a human trafficking agent. Her parents had filed a complaint with the police when the girl did not return home.

Reportedly, the girl was taken to Haryana by her “boyfriend” and was later rescued in a joint

Representative Image operation by the anti-human trafficking unit in Haryana and Assam police.

In another case last month, two human traffickers, including a woman, were arrested from

Railway stations: Vulnerable locations for human trafficking

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urther, railway stations make for easy and vulnerable locations for the traffickers to smuggle out victims from the

state.

The Government Railway Police (GRP) successfully rescued 16 children and 9 adults from railway premises like stations and trains, during the period from January to December 2018.

14 human traffickers were also arrested red-handed when they were trying to transport children and women in trains and eight cases have been registered.

Additionally, the GRP has recovered 137 children from the premises, who had been announced missing.

As per the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data, in 2015, Assam topped the list of states with the highest number of child trafficking cases with a total of 1,317 registered cases.

The state contributed the highest percentage contribution at 37.7 percent to the all-India total.

Further, the Railway Childline in Guwahati rescued 373 children

from Guwahati railway station from April 1, 2018 till January 30, 2019 informed authorities.

According to the data furnished by the Railway Childline officials, a majority of these children rescued by Railway Childline were runaway children who had either fled from an institution or their homes. This also includes the children who were suspected of being trafficked.

“The Guwahati Railway Childline is the only one in the entire northeast. This makes our work a little difficult since the traffickers can easily take a different railway route to traffic children from Assam and the northeast,” Abani Haloi, coordinator of Guwahati Railway Childline told G Plus.

Childline is a programme under the Ministry of Women & Child Development (MWCD) meant for safeguard of children in need of care and protection.

Further, Railway Childline is an initiative of the MWCD and the Railways; it works to provide emergency rescue, security and

protection services to runaway, orphans, possibly trafficked

As per the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data, in 2015, Assam topped the list of states with the highest number of child trafficking cases with a total of 1,317 registered cases. The state contributed the highest percentage contribution at 37.7 percent to the allIndia total. children and child labourers at railway stations. n

the Guwahati railway station and three minor girls rescued, as part of a special drive.

The Quick Response Team of the RPF arrested the two traffickers, hailing from Sivasagar and Tinsukia districts of Assam. The rescued minor girls hailing from Tinsukia district were to be sent to Delhi for Rs 5,000 per head, informed authorities.

Officials say that Guwahati is fast becoming a “source centre” for trafficking girls and children to other states of the northeast as well as places like Haryana, Delhi, Punjab and Kolkata.

Experts believe that it is because of the socio-economic and political realities, such as conflict and marginalisation of communities in hill areas and agricultural crisis and displacement; there are a lot of people – mainly women and children – who are deceitfully trafficked or they go out looking for alternative occupations which finally becomes unsafe migration and they get stuck in this vicious cycle of exploitation. n

Experts call for holistic approach to fight trafficking

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xperts working in the field of child rights feel that prevention of human trafficking needs a multi-pronged approach.

Miguel Das Queah, a child rights activist from Guwahati told G Plus , “A lot of socioeconomic and political factors are also involved in the aspect of prevention of human trafficking apart from looking into legal and law enforcement aspects.”

He added that the state lacks proper rehabilitation centres for trafficking victims.

“We do not have many institutions for rehabilitation, and the ones which are there are very sub-standard and not of very high quality,” said Queah.

Another official working in the field mentioned that anti-human trafficking units need to have separate infrastructure and speciallytrained personnel to respond to trafficking cases.

Further, the police must also be sensitised on how to understand and handle cases

related to trafficking.

“Anti-human trafficking units do not have adequate manpower and resources. On the other hand, the police have a long way to go to become child-friendly since people are scared to respond in police cases and children are scared to approach the police,” said an official.

Further, authorities say that the number of cases registered in the city against trafficking of children reflects only a small percentage of the total cases.

The state government on its part has established anti-human trafficking units (AHTU) in all districts of Assam in order to combat human trafficking, especially of women and children.

For this, the district superintendents of police (SP) have been assigned the task to monitor these units. Officials informed that the SPs work in collaboration with the civil society, NGOs working in the field, panchayat members and government agencies to identify vulnerable areas for human trafficking. n

City

G PLUS | June 29 - July 05 , 2019

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Zero applications for admission to city colleges from third gender category Antarixa Bhardwaj @guwahatiplus

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lthough some of the colleges in Guwahati have allotted a separate space in their application forms for third gender community, students belonging to the same are not coming forward to list their names under that category.

Apart from male and female, there is a section called “other” under which third gender students can enter their names to disclose their gender while filling application forms in a college.

However, no students in Guwahati are found to have used this section so far, with some of the prominent colleges, including Handique Girls’ College, not even considering including this option in their application forms.

Currently, there is no concrete data available on the number of third gender population who have attained college-attending age. But, according to 2011 census, Assam’s transgender population stood at 11,374.

Third gender admission scene in Guwahati colleges When asked why colleges have not received any application under “other” category, Sutopa Raichoudry, vice principal of B Borooah College told G Plus, “Maybe it’s a young age for them to realize that they are from the third gender category. They may also be conscious of the fact that they may be different and might not be comfortable in revealing their identity.

“At the age of 18-19, they may not be conscious of their identity and hence may comply with the general category of male or female and choose not to opt for the third category. Also in this age, they are answerable to their parents and hence they choose not to explain to their parents.”

This year, B Borooah College has received a total of 4,880 applications from students for studying in various under graduate courses, and 1,509 applications for the higher secondary courses.

But not a single application featured students from third gender category.

Cotton University, one of the premier institutes of the state, too

has not received any applicants under the “other” category.

Sanjay Dutta, academic registrar of Cotton University told G Plus, “We don’t have any category specified for the third gender or the transgender students. We have a category called ‘other’ but have not received any applications in this category.”

Handique Girls’ College, the only girls’ college in Guwahati, does not even have the option for the third gender students who wish to take admission in this category. The gender section of the college’s application form is limited to girl students only.

This year, altogether 309 students applied for studying in higher secondary course and 1,915 students in the undergraduate course in Handique Girls’ College.

The situation at Gauhati Commerce College is similar to that of other colleges in the city.

The college received 2,300 applications for this year’s BCom course, but not a single applicant had registered their names under “others” category.

Reasons for not coming out A number of reasons including

the fear of alienation from family and society have kept people from coming out of the box. The students belonging to that community are no different.

Ayushi (name changed), a student studying in Delhi University (DU) who originally hails from Guwahati told G Plus, “My parents don’t know about me being a transgender. If I tell them, it would be too early for them to know. Also, they would also need some time for accepting me as a transgender.

I was always determined not to study in my hometown because of their (my parents) mentality. Even after its legalization, I’m sure most of the people here won’t be able to accept me the way I am. Hence I decided to go away from my hometown and opted for DU.” Ayushi also complained that most of the college campuses in Guwahati are not transgender-friendly.

However, for some, the hurdle of not being able to change their names has been holding them back from registering themselves in the third gender category.

Shweta (name changed), a student of Gauhati University

said, “I have not changed my name and gender on paper yet, hence I have opted not to take admission in the third gender category. I am also scared to tell about my sexual preference to my parents.”

Scenario in other parts of the country In contrast to the colleges in Guwahati, Delhi University (DU) has received at least one application under the third gender category this year.

The university, however, received 101 applications from the third gender students last year.

In addition, DU has initiated some friendly moves for the transgender students, including the establishment of a transgender resource centre at its North Campus to provide higher education counselling to transgender students.

Awareness programmes have also been organized in colleges under DU to sensitize students about transgender issues.

Also this year, the Maharashtra State Board has received 236 applications from the third gender students for Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) exams n

6 Concern

G PLUS | June 29 - July 05 , 2019

44 Assam rivers listed among most polluted in India, Bharalu the worst case scenario Saumya Mishra @saumyamishra03

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n an alarming development, 44 rivers in the state have been listed as the most polluted rivers in India.

This was recently revealed

by Minister for Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Prakash Javadekar, in a question-answer

session of the Lok Sabha.

The revelation was based on data provided by the Central and State Pollution Control Boards.

The data also revealed that 16 rivers in Assam were listed in the most polluted rivers in the country list in the last one and a half years.

The rate of pollution of the rivers and water bodies of Assam has also been increasing at a very high rate. Currently there are 351

Pollution of the Bharalu River inching beyond control | G Plus photo

Brahmaputra’s water quality satisfactory

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n the other hand, the data revealed that water quality index of Brahmaputra river was found to be satisfactory by the authorities.

According to data, in the month of January, the river’s BOD level was 1.9 which is within range. As per the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), a water body with BOD of more than 3 milligram per litre is considered to be polluted. Maintaining levels of BOD in a water body also helps in keeping the aquatic organisms healthy. Further, the BOD of Brahmaputra remined at 1.9 in February as well.

Additionally, the river recorded total coliform of 2100

A water body with BOD of more than 3 milligram per litre is considered to be polluted. Bharalu River’s BOD for January was 18, which further increased to 38 in February.

polluted rivers in India.

Some of the most polluted rivers from Assam in the list include Bharalu, Brahmaputra, Bhogdoi, Beki, Jiyabhoroli, Kalang, Kapili, Janji, Puthimari and Ronganadi among others.

It should be mentioned that the central government is currently preparing a scheme to protect and cleanse the rivers, excluding Ganges and its tributaries, under Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act of 1974.

However, Brahmaputra river has not been included in this scheme.

Bharalu maintains poor water quality index

“One of the major reasons that the pollution levels in Bharalu River has not gone down over the years is because the city’s untreated sewage waste goes directly into the river in the absence of a sewage treatment plant in the city,” PCBA official.

Further, as per the latest data collected by the Pollution Control Board of Assam (PCBA), Bharalu River fares badly on all parameters which are used to measure water quality index and the level of pollution in water.

According to data on water quality collected by the state pollution control board in January this year, Bharalu River’s biological oxygen demand (BOD) remained much

higher than the prescribed level.

The BOD measures the quality of river water, especially the population of coliform bacteria or disease-causing bacteria. As per the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), a water body with BOD of more than 3 milligram per litre is considered to be polluted.

However, Bharalu’s BOD for January was 18, which further increased to 38 in February.

Further, the river has also

River pollution inching towards disastrous levels if steps not taken

E

xperts maintain that river pollution in the state could reach disastrous levels if steps are not taken to improve the water quality

index.

“One of the major reasons that the pollution levels in Bharalu River has not gone down over the years is because the city’s untreated sewage waste goes directly into the river in the absence of a sewage treatment plant in the city,” informed senior environmental scientist at PCBA, Mridul Adhikary.

He added, “We have written to the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) as well, as to the Guwahati Development Department of the state government from time to time

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and faecal coliform of 730 in January. However, the levels of both total as well as faecal coliforms increased in February as compared to the previous month. Total coliform as recorded in February was 3600 while faecal coliform was 1500. n

recorded presence of coliform bacteria at a large scale. While the limit of total coliform is less than 5000 most probable number (mpn) per 100 ml, Bharalu River recorded total coliform of a whopping 21,000 mpn per 100 ml in January.

Additionally, this figure remained constant in February 2019.

This suggests presence of high level of contamination and disease-causing pathogens ion the water.

Similarly, the river also showed presence of large amounts of faecal coliform which is the presence of bacteria and other pathogens in faeces. The maximum permissible limit for faecal coliform is 2500 mpn per 100 ml. But the PCBA data showed faecal coliform of 21,000 in January in Bharalu river.

However, it dropped to 15,000 in February.

The CPCB had conducted a study across India in 2008 and declared Bharalu as among the 71 most polluted rivers in India. Experts say that since then, although the government has taken some measures to reduce the levels of pollution, a lot still needs to be done to improve the quality of river, its aquatic life and its surrounding ecosystem.

n

about the proper treatment and disposal of city’s waste.

The untreated waste also falls into the Brahmaputra River - the lifeline of Assam and pollutes it, too.

Environmentalists Pollution on the Brahmaputra River| G Plus photo feel that if steps are not taken, the Brahmaputra River will also asking them to set up a STP to become highly polluted in the treat city’s waste before it goes future. into the rivers.”

“Large comprehensive planning Experts working in the field and an overall management of of environment say that since the polluted rivers from upstream Guwahati has been selected to be to downstream is needed,” said a developed as a “smart city,” the city-based environmentalist. n authorities must be concerned

Have a story to tell? Be a Citizen Journalist Get in touch with us, Contact/WhatsApp

8486002318/8486002320

In The News

G PLUS | June 29 - July 05 , 2019

7

Rest camp dwelling conditions for devotees far from hygienic Saumya Mishra @saumyamishra03

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akhs of devotees participated in the recently-concluded Ambubachi Mela which saw pilgrims visiting Kamakhya Temple over the course of the four days to partake in the biggest religious festival of the state.

Guwahati saw devotees visiting from nearby states who thronged Kamakhya Temple and adjacent areas during the festival.

However, hygiene conditions at the camps set up by the district administration at Pandu as well as Fancy Bazaar remained below standard. The district administration had constructed six camps this year for the lodging of the devotees visiting the Mela which started

from June 22.

Three rest camps were erected at the Old Jail Campus at Fancy Bazar, while one each were constructed in Pandu, Naharbari and Badipara.

At the Pandu camp, however, cleanliness was not properly maintained as the camp was littered with used plates, polythene pouches and used plastic bottles among others.

Further, a strong stench emanated from near the toilets.

The district administration had also constructed a number of make-shift toilets and bathrooms for the devotees staying at the camp.

When asked about the poor sanitation conditions, the volunteers at the camp said that they were trying their best to maintain cleanliness, but they said the sheer magnitude of devotees made the task very difficult for them.

The overcrowded rest camp at Pandu with people jostling for space | G Plus photo Additionally, an official at the Pandu rest camp also informed that more number of devotees visited the camp this year than they had anticipated. He further

added that a footfall of more than 20 lakhs was seen till the third day at the temple.

“Till the first three days of the festival, every inch of the

campsite was filled with devotees and several people had to sleep on the ground too outside the main tent.

However, the number of devotees from the camp started thinning from the fourth day onwards,” mentioned an official at the Pandu camp site.

A devotee who had visited the Ambubachi Mela from West Bengal for the first time this year told G Plus that she had heard several tales from people back home about the grandeur of the festival and couldn’t resist visiting this year.

“I was very happy to see a religious festival celebrating Maa Kamakhya of this scale here in Guwahati. I will wait for darshan of the Goddess when the doors open and will leave the next day. I have planned to visit next year too,” she said. n

Fancy Bazar Rest Camp registers fewer devotees On the other hand, the Fancy Bazar rest camps did not register many devotees during the course of the festival. A total of three camps were set up at the Fancy Bazar old jail site to accommodate 20,000 devotees. But the campsite

received very less footfall with only 6,000 people registering there in the past three days.

“The gathering this year is much less than anticipated. We had made arrangements for 20,000 people to stay at Fancy Bazaar campsite

but less than one-third of the estimate has turned up,” a volunteer at the Fancy Bazar camp informed G Plus.

The condition of the Fancy Bazar rest camp, too, was not up to the mark in terms of hygiene. The

camp was filled with dust and was also littered with polythene and plastic bottles.

Inside the rest Fancy Bazar rest camp, bhandaras were set up by the local bodies apart from the district administration, which pro-

vided food for the devotees.

Here Majority of the devotees had come from various places in West Bengal including Malda, Uttar Dinajpur, Cooch Behar, as well as Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. n

Bharat Scouts & Guides volunteers: The unsung heroes of Ambubachi Mela Harshita Himatsingka @HHimatsingka

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or the success of any event, there are always some people who work behindthe-scenes to ensure that everything goes smoothly.

This time, during the annual religious festival of Kamakhya Temple - Ambabuchi Mela - held from June 22 to June 25, devotees witnessed many heroes who performed their duties without expecting any rewards and one such group was the Bharat Scouts & Guides volunteers. This group that comprises school and college students, worked day and night during the four-day festival, to ensure a hassle-free event.

“If we have uniformed armed forces, these scouts and guides are an army of unsung heroes.

Boy or girl, they have displayed a beautiful sense of responsibility,

guiding the public, making sure there are no fights, and ensuring that everything is done in an orderly fashion. Really appreciate their efforts,” said Agniwale baba, a sadhu who has been visiting the festival for 12 years now.

There were more than 200 students/volunteers working at the festival, both boys and girls.

Some of their duties included directing traffic of oncoming and outgoing crowds, helping elders climb temple stairs and assisting festival-goers if found hurt, lost or in need of any other help.

“We already have specific teams and then in the morning, based on traffic and other requirements of the festival, we either change the timings of the volunteers or adjust our duties. For example, if there is a huge crowd that needs manoeuvring in one area of the temple, we’ll send some extra volunteers to that area. The main aim is maintaining everything so

that all the proceedings go over smoothly,” said the scout leader.

The cadets worked in twothree shifts for a total of eight hours a day. The guides (girls) worked in two shifts - the morning shift started from 6 am and went on until 2 pm, while the evening shift started from 2 pm and ended at 10 pm. Meanwhile, the scouts (boys) worked in three shifts, starting from 6 am until 2 pm, 2 pm to 10 pm and 10 pm to 6 am.

“We always worked in shifts and they were pre-allotted to all.

We were also working on the last day of the Mela, June 26, for half a day or until the crowds settled down and were cleared from the area,” informed a scout leader who was working at the festival.

All in all, these school and college students have gone beyond their required duties and proven what hospitality and dedication truly mean.

A Scout doing duty at Kamakhya Temple during Ambubachi | G Plus photo “I would especially like to mention the scouts and guides, as they worked really hard despite the hot weather conditions.

We should thank them all for their services as whatever

arrangements were made, they ascertained that everything was up to par and ran smoothly,” said Acharya Amit Tivari, a festivalgoer who attended the event all the way from Madhya Pradesh. n

8 Guest Column

G PLUS | June 29 - July 05 , 2019

Understanding Business Needs

GUEST COLUMN

The author, in this Part – IV of his Entrepreneurship Series, highlights how a departure from the current ‘business trends’ and instead playing a supporting role to the same can mean good business.

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e Assamese, and in general, northeasterners are great trend-followers unlike our friends and competitors, the Bengalis and the north-Indian communities living in the NE regions.

Allow me to elaborate. You might have observed that in Guwahati and other regional cities, there are cyclic investment drives with a sudden spurt of a particular type of business at a certain time. It started in the 1990’s with PCOs, wine shops, mini buses (popularly called Canters) and continues till the current day with the trend being on restaurants and gyms.

There are more restaurants trying to service a hypersaturated market to the extent of aggregators like Zomato, Swiggy and Uber Eats offering ridiculous prices for a food item. While the cost of the food item is heavily subsidized by the aggregator, the model is flawed, especially for the NE. Over time when the offers dry up, the market would snap back to its original shape and a number of these establishments would fold up.

Sustainability is simply ignored by us and hence, most start-ups fail. Again, if your intention was to merely circulate and wash out some ill-gotten black money, then this is a good model. But for any business owner looking to establish themselves, such quick schemes and structures are

untenable.

Unlike us trend-followers, my Bengali and Marwari friends do “baarikkaam.” They rarely go out of business and more often than not, have several businesses, each feeding off the other and constantly growing.

How does this happen? It happens by building on market demand and delivery of sharply analyzed products/services.

In a trend-following economy, they supply support structures.

For example, in a restaurantcrazed market, they provide food packaging and ancillary items, special F&B ingredient items (large commercial sizes), commercial space etc. Unlike the trend-followers, they refuse to participate in the trend and rather supply the trend. In the northeast, take a market survey of any support services/products, you’ll find the market is cornered

by Marwaris and similar people.

Every time there’s a trend, they are already ahead of the curve and ready to supply the people whatever they need. Application of the basic principles of Market Analysis and supplying a need for sustainability and growth is ignored at the cost of failure and huge financial loss.

Have you done your homework for your product/service before going to market? The purpose of the market analysis is to help you better understand the dynamics involved in selecting and targeting customers for your

product. To conduct a market analysis, you need to consider and then describe the key factors that affect your marketplace. Each of the following steps of the market analysis covers a different market facet relating to the customer: 1. Market issues: a. Consider the issues that may affect your market’s customers and offerings. b. Many of these issues will be revealed by conducting an environmental (or, PEST – google it) analysis and an industry analysis. c. Both of these focus on the high-level drivers of change in a market (the key trends and players) and how they impact the fundamental supply-and-demand relationship in a marketplace. d. Are there broad trends or industry structures that create particular opportunities or threats for your business?

2.

Market segments/target customer a. Evaluate various aspects of the market and identify the most attractive target customers or segments. b. In the early market, it is especially important to focus on defining the ideal customer, as it is hard at this stage to define general criteria along which to segment the market. c. Rather than risking excluding any parts of the market, focus on defining a target customer on the basis of the needs you can meet.

Later you can look at defining

market segments.

3. Needs and demands a. Highlight any gaps you see in the current market. b. Any circumstances where customers are going about their business (either as consumers or as a business) in a way that is slower, less effective, or more expensive or inconvenient than if they had your product. c. Try to identify these unmet needs and build your product around this specifically.

4. Switching costs a. Weigh the difficulties and costs involved for potential customers to switch from their current supplier/solution to your offering. b. Examine key elements such as whether your potential customers are locked in to a long-term contract with existing suppliers. c. Is there a deep technology or organizational integration with your competitor(s)? The presence of these will create barriers for customers to change suppliers. d. What’s your strategy for such situations?

5. Revenue attractiveness a. Consider the elements that affect pricing power and profit margins (the most relevant will be covered in the industry analysis). b. Remember to evaluate the revenue attractiveness in light of your business model. c. Many successful companies (for example, Google) have created

an attractive revenue stream by combining their technology advantage with an innovative business model.

The market analysis plays an important role in clarifying the factors that affect your potential target customers and their ability to move from one vendor to another. A careful market analysis will help you better plan who to target first and how to craft your offering. While the above suggestions seem to be inherently technical and strongly business school-structured doctrine, please remember that it’s the basic elementary education given to any businessfamily scion from his mother’s milk. The delivery mechanism aside, whether at a grandfather’s “galla” cash-counter or in the hallowed premises of IIM-A, the lessons are basic and need careful understanding and application.

Recently, during a heated negotiation, I was accused of “thinking and behaving like a Marwari” by a respected and senior Assamese businessman.

Inwardly, I smiled at the compliment.

Perspective matters.

jor referral centres of the country and a cardinal centre in eastern India. He has worked to develop the structure and methodology of ABO-incompatible transplantation in the country, having spearheaded a low cost procedure, thereby making kidney transplantation more inclusive. Through ABO-incompatible transplantations, he has made organ donation a possible and a viable option between more members of a family regardless of the difference in their blood groups.

This, along with the system of lower costs, has greatly opened up the options of kidney transplantation to a much, much larger population of the country thereby effectively addressing and successfully restricting instances of illegal organ trade in his field of speciality. He has worked tirelessly and innovatively to provide the people of India with an option, whereby they get a second chance of life – a new lease of life.

For his exceptional achievements in his professional field, he was honoured with an outstanding leadership award from the

Narayana Hrudayalaya organization. While having made such noteworthy progress over a period of 30 years, he is now training young doctors as a part of their DNB education, thereby ensuring his methods and practices are effectively propagated among a newer generation of nephrologists, who can then serve the country better. He has numerous publications and presentations in both national and international forums, also, having contributed a number of chapters to books on medicine. His professional achievements have been covered by print and electronic media on a number of occasions.

It is heartening to note that Dr Ray and his team have done a large number of transplants on patients hailing from Assam and the northeast. “We try to do low cost transplants as far as possible and help underprivileged patients through hospital’s guest support cell,” said Dr Ray. This apart, he has also conducted several medical seminars with local doctors in the northeast to spread knowledge about prevention of kidney and renal diseases,

apart from training nurses from Assam in transplant care. As regards his future plans for Assam vis-à-vis kidney transplants, he said, “We are in the process of starting low cost transplantation in Guwahati so that poor patients won’t have to travel to other states for treatment.”

Other than his stellar work in his professional field, Dr Ray has also aided and enabled the education of the underprivileged, meritorious students at primary, middle school and high school levels back home in his native Bhadrak and its surrounding areas under the aegis of the “Shanti Devi and Shailaja Shankar” scholarship. He has also established a common library and reading space, the “Sudhanshu Shekhar and Shanti Devi Pathagara” for the people of Bhadrak.

Debashish Goswami

A visionary physician gUEST cOLUMN

Saikh Md Sabah Al-Ahmed

P

assing out from the hallowed corridors of a medical college with a medical degree is not an easy task.

This apart, being a doctor and having the responsibility of many lives, is even more difficult and exhausting.

Dr Deepak Shankar Ray is a leading nephrologist and transplant physician in India. Presently, he heads the Department of Nephrology & Transplantation at the Rabindranath Tagore Institute of Cardiac Sciences in Kolkata. He and his team perform around 5,500 haemodialyses per month (one of the largest numbers in the country) and have performed 2,500 renal transplantations alleviating the sufferings of chronic kidney failure patients of eastern India, north eastern states and neighbouring SAARC countries like Bhutan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Myanmar among others.

Dr Ray was born in 1955 in a mo-

fussil town (Bhadrak), of Odisha, to a family of moderate earnings.

His father was an educationist, a Gandhian, who was involved in the freedom movement. Dr Ray did his graduation and post-graduation in medicine from SCB Medical College, Cuttack in 1979 and 1984 respectively. He did his super specialization in Nephrology from AIIMS, New Delhi and fellowship in Renal Medicine from St James’s University Hospital, Leeds, under the tutelage of Prof AM Davison.

He has made remarkable achievements in the field of Nephrology in India with a vision of catering to the more economically backward classes. Transplantation of kidney being the most definitive treatment of chronic kidney diseases, he has introduced the methods of paired organ donor transplantation in India with a view of increasing the organ donor pool and making ethical donor transplantation accessible to a larger population of the country.

Over and above that, under his management and leadership, his Centre has become one of the ma-

In The News

G PLUS | June 29 - July 05 , 2019

9

The politics behind the elephant transfer drama G Plus News @guwahatiplus

T

hough the Assam government has temporarily reversed the idea of sending the elephants to Gujarat, the government is still keen to go ahead with the decision. A source in the forest & environment department, talking to G Plus, informed that the elephants will surely be sent eventually but for the time being the matter is being kept in abeyance as the Veterinary Experts Committee, in a report submitted on Wednesday, said that there is “every possibility of the elephants suffering from heat stroke” if transported by any means of transport for that matter. But why is the government so eager to send the elephants to Gujarat?

State forest & environment minister, Parimal Suklabaidya, talking to G Plus said, “We received a request from Gujarat Jagannath Temple management

Sources revealed that before the 2019 elections a top BJP leader vowed to send 4 elephants to Jagannath, Gujarat if BJP won the elections to send the elephants and even received a no objection certificate (NOC) from the forest department of that state.”

But if any temple management requests the government to send elephants or any wildlife species for that matter, should the government agree?

A highly placed source in Dispur talking to G Plus said, “There is some political pressure. Prior to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, a prominent national leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had taken a vow in the Jagannath

Temple that if BJP wins the 2019 elections, 4 elephants will be given for the Jagannath Rath Yatra.”

The source revealed that accordingly the government File photo of an elephant being ferried on a truck was asked to send the suggested that the elephants elephants but now, because of won’t be safe if sent now. climatic issues, the decision is The team of experts comprising being kept in abeyance. five veterinary doctors, Dr Pulin The government has not yet Chandra Das, Dr KK Sarma, Dr permanently withdrawn the Bijoy Kumar Gogoi, Dr Pranjit decision. “It is difficult to send Barua and Dr Debabrata Phukon, the elephants before 4th July had said in their report that (when the Rath Yatra starts), evolutionarily, elephants as but in future, when the weather compared to humans or most of conditions improve, the elephants the mammals, have a very weak will be sent,” said Suklabaidya. thermoregulatory system owing The source in Dispur said that to presence of minimal sweat the decision is halted only because glands (only present above their the expert committee report

toe-nails) and presence of intraabdominal testicles which is otherwise external in case of most mammals.

Regarding other modalities of transport, the committee stated that regulations laid down by the Directorate of Project Elephant dated January 8, 2008 and Central Zoo Authority published in 2012 should be maintained in letter and spirit.

The Central Zoo Authority had said that only adults and subadults should be transported as far as the selection of animals is concerned. Pregnant, geriatric, lactating, suckling, sick, weak, injured or deformed animals should be avoided in planned transport. Surprisingly, according to media reports, the male juvenile elephant, Rupsing, has a bullet injury on its left foreleg and yet the elephant was issued a fitness certificate by a veterinarian and it was ready for transportation.

The four elephants which the Assam government was planning to send to Gujarat are Rani, Rupsingh, Babulal and Joytara. n

10 In Conversation Snippets Women’s ethnicwear brand to host exhibition at Vivanta by Taj

G PLUS | June 29 - July 05 , 2019

In Conversation with Zakir Khan Ace comedian Zakir Khan talks about his life, comedy and Guwahati well. These are some of my favourite comedians.

Surajit Sharma @guwahatiplus

I

n an exclusive interview, G Plus caught up with “Sakht Launda” standup comedian Zakir Khan to discuss the comedy industry, his comedy career and his thoughts on Guwahati.

O

naya, a premium women’s ethnic-wear brand based out of Kolkata, is all set to host its first stand-alone exhibition on June 29 and June 30 at Vivanta by Taj in Guwahati.

Their brand name literally means “the special woman,” and keeping true to that, they have been producing elegant garments for years now.

The exhibition will begin at 10.30 am and will feature garments such as sarees, salwar suits, lehengas, gowns, draped sarees and much more.

“Onaya specialises in fulfilling the requirement of various Indian occasions. We have collections meant for attending all Indian wedding-related events, such as sangeet functions, bridal party, reception etc, and we specialize in providing ethnic wear for women,” said Sandeep Jain, founder of Onaya.

He added that the garments sold at Onaya are exclusive as they are produced by the brand itself and these designs are one-of-a-kind as well.

Onaya was also associated with the movie “Gold,” starring Akshay Kumar and Mouni Roy. The brand has a retail store in Kolkata and a team of designers that work especially for them. They also work with a number of master weavers, artisans and karigars, all of whom handcraft and embroider their designs. The brand is a force in keeping genuine and original art alive and wants to restore these traditional methods of design.

“With this collection, we want to empower every woman with elegance that’s inimitable as well as enviable,” said Jain.

Since when have you been a “Sakht Launda?”

The basic idea of “Sakht Launda” is a way to avoid rejection. A lot of times, people aren’t even interested in you romantically but they sweet talk you to get their work done. Because of this, you end up having high hopes and it damages your personality a lot.

I’m not saying that you should not approach anyone. It’s just that sometimes the reactions of other people really damage your personality, and it takes a long time to repair it. Things like love, if it happens naturally, then that’s a good thing. So that’s why I thought I’ll become a “Sakht Launda” and I’ve been a “Sakht Launda” since then.

What is the stand-up comedy industry scene like?

When did you start this journey?

I started my journey in 2011.

That year, I went to an open-mic and performed a one and a half minute set and the people there said no. They were making the “finish it” sign with their hands. On 5th December 2011, I performed my first open-mic set. So it’s been 8-9 years.

experiences, I’ve never had more fun doing anything else. I think that’s the most interesting part and maybe that’s why everyone does it. Some people get money, some don’t. Some like it, some don’t. In spite of that you will notice that there are a thousand people lining up to do comedy, maybe that is the main reason for that.

Have you come to Guwahati before? How does it feel?

Did you have a plan to be in this profession?

It

In 2010, I had a roommate in Delhi. He had gone to a comedy show and he came back and told me that this was a very good thing and that I would do very well in this. So it took me one year to prepare. At that time, it would cost Rs 500 for a firsttime performer at the openmic. And I didn’t have Rs 500, so I got a job, paid off my debt and then in December, I went and saved some money and performed my first set. It was not a plan, but circumstances led me to it and it happened.

I will be doing this in the future also. This is my work and I’ll continue doing this. It’s not yet confirmed, but I’m writing the second season for my show “Chacha Vidhayak” and there’s a new comedy special coming up. I haven’t named it yet, but that’s what I’ll be performing in Guwahati.

Right now, I really like Pratyush Chaubey, Rahul Dua, Nishant Suri, Varun Grover.

There’s an English stand-up comic, Anubhav Pal, he’s very good, I really like him. I really enjoy Amit Tandon’s work as

The most interesting part, the first time that you go on stage and when you get your first laugh, that feeling,

feels really

good, it’s started to feel like home already.

I’ve been here so many times.

I’ve already developed an interest in different kinds of tea flavours.

I have started my own research on the life of tea-tasters, learning new facts about them. I think it’s almost a home now, it’s really beautiful.

If I’m able to earn some money, I’ll buy a house here. n

What are your thoughts about your job in the future?

Industry scene is good. We get a lot of people who come to our shows. One of the best things is that there’s work for everyone.

If you’re hard-working, if your work is good, in an industry like this, where there’s already a lot of people, you’ll find a lot of work in the comedy industry.

Who is your favourite Indian comedian?

there’s nothing bigger than that, nothing can beat that feeling. I’ve never done drugs in my life so I don’t know, but in my life, all my

What is the most interesting thing about being a stand-up comedian?

Weather report for the week Guwahati

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City

G PLUS | June 29 - July 05 , 2019

The changing trends of higher education in Assam Harshita Himatsingka @HHimatsingka

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he northeast region is experiencing a shift in its education system. While earlier most students would prefer to leave the comfort of their homes and head to a metro city to pursue higher studies, now, with the introduction of upcoming institutes in the region, especially Assam, students are choosing to stay here and help build a bright future for themselves, as well as the state. However, this is just the beginning and there are a number of aspects that have to be worked on to ensure the continued efforts of this regionbuilding exercise.

In an exclusive interview, G Plus spoke to Father Stephen Mavely, Vice Chancellor of Assam Don Bosco University (ADBU) about these changing trends and what they mean for the future of the education sector in the northeast region.

“While there has been a trend in the past of students leaving the northeast to go outside to study, I’m sensing a change now.

Several parents and students themselves are realizing that they can get a quality education here as institutes in the region

are fast-developing and are not that far behind as compared to the rest of the country,” stated Father Mavely.

For students, one of the most important aspects of studying out-of-state is the availability and accessibility to established and recognised faculty. Father Mavely pointed out that increasingly, a lot of good faculty are staying back in Assam or rather, a lot of them are coming back home from different places. This too, adds to the lure of pursuing one’s higher education in their home state.

He added that this movement of leaving the region will soon diminish as many facilities are being made available here itself.

A lot of revamping has been in the process for the past five years, and colleges here are catching up quick.

“Now, there’s a greater awareness for the need of standards, liberal education, choice-based credit system, the possibility of mobility of students from one institution to another, part-time courses etc, all of which are slowly setting in to create an awareness amongst students and parents about the upheaval of the education system,” stated Father Mavely, explaining one by one why it is a good idea to stay back.

ADBU is one such university that is bringing in this change.

The faculty spends a considerable amount of time, almost 12 to 18 months, prepping for the course curriculum and conceptualising what they want the university to be. It is the first private university in the state.

Since its conception, the university officials have made sure to establish a standard that is at par with most national and even international institutions across the globe. A profile of someone who passes out from the university, should be distinct, Father Mavely mentioned.

“Anyone who passes out from the university should be a dependable human being and a good citizen of the country.

That is the ultimate aim of the graduate profile,” he said.

The ambience of the university is one of its main strong points. It is the perfect setting for serious study, research, social life and extension work.

City hospital hosts event for International Yoga Day

N

emcare Heart Institute & Research Centre and Super Speciality Hospital, in association with Vivekananda Kendra Institute of Culture, hosted a program for “World Yoga Day” on June 21 from 9 am. The

event was held in the new building of the hospital.

Nemcare Hospital is a unit of North East Medical Care and Research Centre Pvt Ltd and was established in 2001 by a group of doctors and businessmen from Guwahati city,

with a mission to bring quality healthcare within the reach of every individual. The hospital provides consultation with some of the leading specialists of the region, creating a platform of comprehensive service offering in the secondary level of healthcare. n

ICBI Guwahati Chapter hosts interactive talk show

A

n interactive talk show on “Financial Freedom & Equity Markets” and “Last Will and Testament” was held in Hotel Vishwaratna on June 21, 2019. The seminar was organized by the Guwahati Chapter of International Chamber of Business and Industry (ICBI).

Sandeep Jain spoke on the topic, “Financial Freedom and Equity Markets.” Jain hails from Jaipur and is a noted equity market expert and a regular TV panellist at CNBC AWAAZ, Zee Business

and other channels. He has delivered talk shows on equity markets across India under various platforms. He enlightened the audience about picking the right stock and investing regularly for financial freedom in their post retirement life and also at the time of emergency.

CA Raj K Lakhotia from Kolkata, a reputed chartered accountant and co-founder of DILSEWILL. com, delivered his presentation on “Last Will and Testament.” He highlighted the importance of writing the will and how

to write it. He laid emphasis on why writing of the will is absolutely necessary to avoid family disputes.

The speakers were welcomed and felicitated with mementos and a gift pack of traditional organic products.

During the live interaction session, questions on equities, right stock picking etc and on writing of the will were well addressed by the speakers concerned.

The convenor of the seminar was Prakash Gupta. n

ADBU is also currently in touch with 42 villages around the area where their students are intimately engaged in several upliftment activities such as remedial teaching, medical assistance, water supply, hygienic living etc.

The types of specialized courses that are socially relevant to the region, online education, placement opportunities, connectivity with the rest of the world through exchange programs, fundraising activities etc all make ADBU stand out and most importantly, be able to stand tall and compete with institutes from across India and the world.

All these facilities make sure that graduates are well-rounded individuals who excel not only in their studies, but also service activities and other communitybuilding programs, explained the vice chancellor.

“Today, looking at the scenario in Assam, Meghalaya and even some other parts of the northeast region, I would say that we are doing pretty well in the education scenario. Institutions are there, lots of opportunities exist.

However, sustained efforts will be required by these institutions to see that they are able to provide a standard that is comparable to the rest of the country,” said Father Mavely in closing. n

11

Snippets Digitalant launches ‘Digital Marketing Jobs North East’ initiative

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igitalant, a digital media marketing and training group, launched its “Digital Marketing Jobs North East” initiative in Guwahati on June 25.

The initiative aims to connect northeast India’s rapidly increasing youth population with sustainable employment opportunities in digital media.

As part of the initiative, youths from the entire northeast region will be traine d in the fie ld of digital marketing.

The training will be held at Digitalant office in Guwahati with the first batch of training scheduled to begin from July 9 this year.

Manish Choudhury, founder and lead trainer at Digitalant said, “We live in a time where people use the internet for almost everything and this ever-growing popularity of the internet has created a huge demand for skilled digital marketers.

“However, there is a lack of supply of reliable talent to fill in this gap. With India’s job market on a decline, we felt it was an opportune time to launch our “Digital marketing jobs north east” initiative to make our youth selfreliant.”

12 Centre Spread

G PLUS | June 29 - July 05 , 2019

Ambubachi

The biggest religious festival of Guwahati saw a footfall of over 20 lakh devotee

An integral part of Ambubachi: the chillum

Prayers, devotion

A touch of moderni

ty with his shades

CM Sonowal

Prayers to God

Lit up and decorated Kamakhya Temple

Bharat Guides handled the pressu

G PLUS | June 29 - July 05 , 2019

i Mela 2019

es and made for a magnificent photo op. Enjoy the pics from the G Plus lenses.

ure well

A sea of humanity

The lit up main gate

ma

Blessings to am

Centre Spread

13

14 G Talk E

D

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G PLUS | June 29 - July 05 , 2019 T

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The other no-good Rahul

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t the national level, the last great “Rahul” was Rahul Dravid. The nation has otherwise come across two Rahuls – one a forever struggling politician and the other, a supposedly promising cricketer, gushed at by all and sundry (including cricket pundits) but one whose statistics are totally stacked against him making you wonder why at all he is enjoying the privileges of an Indian cricketer.

The case in point today, in the backdrop of the ongoing ICC World Cup (WC), is Indian opener Lokesh Rahul who comes across as a weak link along with Vijay Shankar in the otherwise formidable Indian batting line-up. Even as I write this only out of concern, I would not want to question the opinions of the experts who seem to eulogize Rahul to the point of comparing him with Dravid. And so, let us look at his statistics: Having made his Test debut for India in 2010, he has been representing India in all formats of cricket for about 9 years now. He himself is 27 years old and so is no rookie.

He has played 19 ODIs – the last being against the West Indies on Thursday in the current World Cup. So far, as the No 4 batsmen or as an

opener, he has scored just one century and three 50s with an average of roughly 37 and a strike rate of 78.

His 50s include 63 versus Zimbabwe in 2016, 60 versus Afghanistan in 2018 and 57 against Pakistan in the WC match. The lone hundred came against Bangladesh in the Cardiff warm up match on 28th May last.

His other WC scores are 48 against West Indies, 30 (Afghanistan), 11 not out (Australia) and 26 (South Africa).

The problem is he bats like a rookie, is forever unable to capitalize on a good start, gets out in manners where one can question both his attitude and technique and yet, Rahul keeps getting opportunities in the Playing 11 as if he owns the lone cricket bat available and so is an automatic selection even as far better and more experienced players like Dinesh Karthik and superior talents like Rishabh Pant continue to warm the benches. Moreover, in two matches, Rahul has dropped two sitters in the deep.

Sorry, but this Rahul is no good although I’d like to be proved wrong if he is persisted with.

Swapnil Bharali (Editor) @swapnilbharali

Kabir Singh ka thappad It seems like a scene from the movie Kabir Singh has become the most debated topic in the past week. This scene allegedly glorifies “toxic masculinity” as it shows him slapping his girlfriend while giving her an ultimatum about choosing him or her family.

The pseudo-intellectuals on the internet are of the opinion that this would encourage “bad” behaviour from partners and that glorification of such “misogynist” characters makes people justify poor behaviour in real life.

The internet is the funny place. It’s the same place where people opine strongly about a scene from a movie, go back and look up violent porn and also form passionate relationships with strangers on the internet.

My point is, everyone looks at things differently! Just because you have the freedom of expression, it does not mean that you have to!

A movie is nothing but a form of expression. If you have a problem with the way a fictional character handles his relationship, you, my friend, have bigger problems. To generalize it and set “global and cultural context” is sheer stupidity.

Passion of course has hundreds of forms; some come in the form of supporting your favourite team, sometimes you passionately hate neighbours (countries and people), some people care for animals and some behave strangely in love.

Several people also said that because the girl slaps the boy, it is okay for the boy to slap her back. Honestly, that is redundant. For Christ’s sake, it’s someone else’s relationship, from a movie, where a director had to get the point across in about 2-3 hours or you’d complain that the movie was too long! Just leave things alone.

If your partner is abusing you and you are not enjoying it, please feel free to walk away, file a case at your local police station, instead of venting out your frustration on the internet and making it sad place to be in.

Sidharth Bedi Varma @sid_bv

The ICC World Cup 2019: Upsets aplenty!

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he on-going world cup cricket extravaganza has been expectedly drawing huge passionate followings both on and off the field. The present exciting tournament, like any other previous editions, has witnessed quite a few upsets, the crowning instance being Bangladesh annihilating a revamped West Indies hands down chasing an imposing West Indian total of 321 runs comfortably. Ian Bishop, the legendary West Indian bowler, and a host of other cricket experts have acknowledged the rise of Bangladesh as a “force to reckon with” in international cricket following this victory.

More importantly, Afghanistan, the baby of the tournament, had sent shivers down the spine of teeming millions of Indians by restricting a much vaunted Indian batting to a meagre 224 runs and then taking the game to “proverbial handshaking distance” from victory. It’s such stuff that makes World Cups worth watching!

“The glorious uncertainty of cricket” was experienced at its superlative best when England, holding top ICC ranking position head of the tournament, failed to get past Pakistan’s total of 348 runs despite centuries scored by Joe Root and Jos Butler. Rarely has a team lost in an ODI after two of its batsmen scored centuries and still failed to overcome the opposition’s target. ODI history has indeed been enriched by such value additions.

Ironically, if the defeat against Pakistan was a major upset for England - the team that was rated as the favourite by most cricket pundits greater mishaps were in store for them. Sri Lanka with a none-too-promising previous performance had scored a miserly 232 runs. The target appeared innocuous.

Then, veteran Malinga pulverized the strong English batting line up and folded them up to a paltry 212 runs much to the chagrin of English team and its

O pinion Gautam Ganguly

supporters. Interestingly, losing against both Pakistan and Sri Lanka, the countries that were taught basics of cricket once by

Cricket is described as the game of glorious uncertainties. Time alone will testify the extent of upsets and surprises that await the cricketing connoisseurs as the ICC World Cup 2019 marches ahead. their English rulers, presents the Indian mythological image of “Guru” Dronancharya losing to his disciple, Ekalavya, as it were!

Digressing a bit from the Himalayan upsets in the tournament so far, Team India’s effort in winning all the five matches has been immensely satisfying to the millions of Indian cricket connoisseurs across the world.

While beating Australia can be always relishing, every Indian looks expectantly for the encounter against Pakistan the mother of all oppositions.

The overwhelming victory of Team India against the archrivals reaffirms that Pakistan has again crumbled before a galvanised, superior team effort for the seventh successive time.

Within minutes of the Indian victory, Indian social media was replete with rollicking fun and humour on our hostile neighbour highlighting simultaneously a strong sense of aesthetic satisfaction and enmity. It needs to be mentioned that India has defeated Pakistan in all ICC World Cup matches since 1992.

The New Zealand team with its top class performance has gone up in ICC ranking besides earning accolades as a complete team from cricket critics.

However, Pakistan has brought

rRed beacons & VIP culture

the sky-high reputation of New Zealand to a grinding halt by beating them in its round-robin clash raising the spectre of a repetition of 1992’s miraculous turn of events. The memory of the New Zealand team under redoubtable Martin Crowe reaching the semi final in the 1992 version of the world cup annihilating their oppositions ruthlessly comes flashing to the mind. The opposition was lacklustre Pakistan who had lost two matches and remained in the fray on stroke of fortune.

The world was stunned by the uncertainty of cricket when a young Inzimam Ul Haque came out of the blue ransacking the New Zealand bowlers mercilessly to take the Pakistan team to a sensational victory reaching the 264 runs target with three balls to spare.

The ICC World Cup 2019 stands agonizingly poised.

Australia and India are the only two teams that are through to semis. But the rest of the two slots remain wide open.

Guessing the possible qualifying teams, at this stage, in the midst of intense competitions will be nothing short of hazardous.

There is no need to reiterate that the entire nation went breathless for few seconds when Kapil Dev ran twenty yards back to hold the catch of Viv Richards that ushered a new dawn in Indian cricket on 25th June, 1983. Whether Team India will rise to the expectation of millions of cricket crazy Indians to repeat the 1983 performance once again in the “Mecca of cricket” lies buried in the unforeseen immediate future.

(The author is a retired civil servant and a die-hard sports enthusiast.) n

Letter to the Editor

In 2013, the Supreme Court of India ordered the government to restrict the use of beacons on vehicles, except by constitutional heads. The Prime Minister Narendra Modi, two years ago, had announced a ban on the use of ‘lal batti’ while addressing the nation in his ‘Man Ki Baat’ with effect from 1st May, 2017. All this were an attempt to stop the VIP racism and culture that had become the order of the day in the country. Despite these efforts, we can see the clear misuse of sirens on the convoys of MLAs and MPs to clear traffic for passage. There have been instances where even ambulances have had to move aside due to the siren from the pilot car to let the VIPs pass through.

So has the VIP culture has truly ended?

Rifa Deka Royal Global University

In Focus

G PLUS | June 29 - July 05 , 2019

15

Safety first Following the Biswanath Chariali tragedy where a worker died of electrocution while working on an electrical pole, Engineer Ujjwal Sarmah writes on why safety measures are of paramount importance when working with high-voltage electrical systems.

A

very unfortunate incident occurred yesterday at Biswanath Chariali. Being an electrical engineer having extensive experience in similar field in India as well as abroad, I can vouch that these kind of incidents, fatal accidents rather, can be avoided by bearing minimum safety concerns in mind.

Safety is to be one’s habit than imposed to get a safe working environment. Of course, for this, safety culture is required to be developed which may call for some expense. But, at the end, loss of life cannot be justified for any expense.

At our class lectures, our professors had repeatedly said that no one should develop friendship with electricity. Unlike other friends, it never spares the life of a friend even for a simple mistake.

Here are some very basic points anyone should follow while working on electrical systems more specifically in case of high voltage systems.

Firstly, one should confirm the status of the line before taking up any work on the

electrical system. For this, there are numerous tools but the most convenient one is the non-contact type voltage detector. It gives sounds as well as visual indication on presence of voltage from a distance.

Cost of such a unit is not very high.

Secondly, the person must ensure earthing of the overhead lines at both sides of working points at a visible distance. This is required to keep the work location safe from any induced surge. Induced surge may be generated due to various reasons, such as crossing of two separate systems somewhere, due to lightning, or may be due to accidental fall of a snapped line under which this working line is passing.

This kind of earthing also provides safety to the working personnel from electrocution due to wrong switching of the feeder from a remote location.

Of course, with a little bit

of systematic approach, wrong switching can be totally avoided.

Besides this, a robust “Electrical Work Permit” system is a must for the network APDCL has to work with. Mere communication over phone by a linesman to control centre is not sufficient.

There should be a failsafe mechanism to ensure positive isolation of a feeder. And more importantly, the permission authority to switch on a feeder should lie only with the work permit acceptor.

A standard Operating Procedure with checklist is another safety tool for such work.

It is not very difficult to

conceive that in case of emergency, there is every chance as well as need to overrule these safety measures. But with a cultured approach, this mindset can be changed as around the world, basic

safety measures are never bypassed.

Again, loss of life cannot be justified for time or money.

Er Ujjwal Sarmah, BE (Electrical)

Reactions to the death of the electricity department employee who was repairing the high voltage line in Biswanath Chariali.

Manash Pratim

Dhruv O Jyoti Medhi

Aldrin Rngsa Marak

Azaz Azaz

May his soul rest in peace. But this does also raise some serious questions on employee safety and security while working in such a dangerous environment. Now the government needs to come forward and take up the responsibility and make the necessary changes as there are human lives at stake. Such incidents are not acceptable; it shows how careless our employees of Assam government are.

Electricity department knows only to make huge bills but look what a careless thing they have done now. They don’t even care for their staff.

And will their family get support from the respective department? Most irresponsible department in Assam. Every year we get this kind of news.

Proper investigation should be done and punishment should be given to whoever is responsible. Such incidents cannot be neglected.

Themson Sk

Absolute insincerity. No shutdown before climbing the pole may be the result of this tragic incident. Seriously APDCL people are just good in taking bribes from contractors, but not with the handy work. Who is responsible for the death of an innocent person? His children should be given his job. Negligence causing death of innocents can’t be taken for granted in civil society. Proper measures should be taken as every year we hear such news and till date no initiative has been taken from the government’s side.

Rest in peace. This is very heart-breaking. Why are they not provided modern tools and safety measures? There should be strict government rules to ensure safety of these men in high risk jobs. Yesterday two men were working on top of an electric pole in front of my house and I was worried and thinking why they do not have any safety measures. This is a very risky job and precautions are a must.

My father works in electricity department too. I will share with you a brief story where my father has faced such incidents not once but many times but by God’s grace he was not critically injured. The department was informed to switch the current off while repairing. But some ignorant staff turned on the current while my dad was repairing the HT 1000V line. Luckily he was repulsed, not attracted by the AC. That’s how he managed to escape the danger. That was not the first time. People working in the office should take the advice seriously. They should turn off the main current when ordered. Most of the time this kind of incident is caused because of staff negligence and turning on the current from their station even before the job is done.

16 Buzz

G PLUS | June 29 - July 05 , 2019

City college felicitates alumna, social worker Shakuntala Choudhury

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n the 100th birthday of social worker and eminent Gandhian, Shakuntala Choudhury, Handique Girls’ College, Guwahati felicitated her in a function held at the Kasturba Gandhi National Memorial Trust, Assam Branch at Sarania.

Shakuntala

Chowdhury was

the first batch of alumni from Handique Girls’ College. In the function, Principal Dr Utpal Dutta and former Principal Geeta Barua felicitated her with a shawl, bouquet and a cake.

Speaking on the occasion, Geeta Barua said that Shakuntala Chowdhury’s life is

exemplary of dedication.

Chowdhury spoke briefly, blessing the audience and the college she had studied in.

Manjyotshna Mahanta performed a Guru Vandana followed by a Jyoti Sangeet and Dr Madhuchanda Chaliha Bhuyan sang a Borgeet at the event. n

Radiance Foundation awards certificates under ASDM programme

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certificate distribution ceremony was organised

by Radiance Foundation on Saturday, June 22 for those candidates who have completed their training programmes in embroidery and

trainer, spoke on the rich heritage of Assam especially in relation to fabrics and textiles and explained to the trainees how they can earn handsome profits by producing handicrafts with ethnic designs.

Nurul Laskar, PR Consultant, focussed on the need for building an image for the entrepreneur and her products that would generate goodwill and support from the market.

A number of successful trainees

electrician courses.

NGO organises water distribution camp in the city

“

Youth for Humanity,” a non-governmental organization registered in Guwahati, organised a water distribution camp near Swagat Hospital, Maligaon, Guwahati during Ambubachi Mela 2019.

The speciality of this NGO is that it conducts all its projects with a slogan that resembles the various topics of important discussions going on in the country. This year, the slogan by which the NGO conducted the camp with was, “Say No to Tobacco, Say no to Plastic.”

To promote this thought, the NGO set up the camp with utmost cleanliness and with minimum use of plastic. They put up banners and posters on the way to Kamakhya Temple, starting from the gate to the end of Nilachal Parvat.

The NGO also saw to it that the whole premises of the camp and the way to the temple were kept as clean as possible. In addition to that, the organisation has also been distributing water, lemon tea, biscuits, chocolate etc to the pilgrims of the Mela.

The camp also helped officials in clearing traffic as and when required and provided them with water to beat the heat.

Volunteers from the NGO have been working in the city

Speaking on the occasion, upcoming film director Mirza Arif Hazarika exhorted the trainees to adhere to hard work and honesty which, he said, would help them become successful in life. Spondon Borthakur, soft skills trainer, urged upon the trainees to develop good communication skills for showcasing their talent as well as their products. Neeta Rabha, fashion designer and crafts

shared their experiences with guests and visitors during the valedictory part of the programme.

The Radiance Foundation has been conducting several training programmes in skill development in various parts of Assam as per guidelines of ASDM. n

Assam shooter Hriday Hazarika named ‘Sportsperson of the Year’

S

hooter Hriday Hazarika from Assam has been selected as “Sportsperson of the Year 2018.”

He was conferred the award on June 26 at the United Brothers Club (UBC) Assam Sports Award Ceremony held at the Madhabdev International Auditorium.

Hriday Hazarika, Junior

for 5 years now. The NGO is being lead by a group of young and enthusiastic people who have been organizing various non-profit events in the city throughout the years. n

World Cup gold medallist in Suhl (GER), climbed atop the World Championship podium in Changwon (KOR), nailing a decisive 10.3 in a shoot-off against his Iranian rival, Amir Mohammad Nekounam.

It is to be mentioned that shuttler Ashmita Chaliha was also honoured with the “Upcoming Sportsperson of the Year” award. n

Feature

G PLUS | June 29 - July 05 , 2019

17

Guwahati witnessing behavioural shift in personal care trends, steep decline in physical markets Harshita Himatsingka @HHimatsingka

T

he economy has taken a hit since the GST (Goods and Services Tax) system was introduced. Almost all sectors of businesses have been affected because of these new laws and as a result of

Some common services that people prefer to avail at home include waxing, threading, facials, manicure, pedicure, hair henna and hair colouring.

Guwahatians are also buying more products online, such as face packs, face masks, hair masks and hair colour, in addition to many cosmetic products. this, the people of Guwahati have become more aware and cautious as to where and how they spend their money.

Before GST, people had a lot disposable income and investing in personal care was never even a question; it was just something the citizens would indulge in regularly. However nowadays, personal care in our city is witnessing a diminishing graph.

G Plus spoke to the staff of several beauty parlours and hair salons in the city. 9 out of 10 said that the salon business is not as profitable as it was 3 or 4 years ago. The average flow of customers has decreased in recent years and there has been a significant impact on sales.

“The frequency of customers has declined a lot since GST was introduced. Before GST, we had customers lining our parlour and the waiting area used to be full all the time. Today, even the customers that you see here have come to avail free membership facilities. Business has definitely slowed down,” said a floor staff from a respected hair salon in Guwahati.

While different facilities have different costs (based on products used and expertise required), the average spending of a person,

male or female is approximately Rs 750.

According to professionals at our city’s parlours and salons, the average number of times men and women visit a parlour is roughly the same, though men might be seen at salons more than women, as they go in for regular haircuts, shaving or cleanups.

Both males and females also approximately spend the same amount of money when visiting these establishments, regardless of gender.

Competition is killing the salon business

the city now and each area has either one or two parlours that its local residents frequent. Thus, customers are spoilt for choice, quantitatively speaking.

“Guwahati also has many specialized parlours now which cater to selected facilities. For example, some places specialize in hair colouring or other hair treatment options such as straightening, smoothening or keratin treatments. All of this also affects business as it is part of the competition,” said the owner and proprietor of Scissor’s Palace, a beauty salon located in Chandmari.

The number one reason for the decline of personal care that most salon businesses mentioned is GST and the second is competition. This element has various factors that are all interconnected.

The first aspect of competition is amongst the various beauty parlours and salons inside the city. In present-day Guwahati, there is no shortage of hair salons or beauty parlours. There are more than 100 parlours in

Another aspect states that businesses in the city are facing major heat from online products that are cheap, easy to use and less time consuming. Using products bought online is easy for customers to use as they do not have to travel anywhere to get a high-end hair or skin treatment.

In addition to that, the product

Spending habits of citizens shift from retail to online markets

is also delivered directly to their doorstep; they can use it themselves in the privacy of their own homes and the prices are much more reasonable as there are no labour costs involved.

The next factor that ties into the previous aspect is the lack of time. Customers today are busy and time is money for everyone.

Therefore, if people can save time in terms of traveling back and forth, that is money saved too. Thus, the availability of online products is an easy solution for people lacking time or trying to save money on added expenditure.

“Convenience is a big factor now. I mean, if I can get everything done at home, why go out? Traffic is so bad and ordering something online or calling someone at home is so easy,” said a customer in her mid-20s.

New trends emerging

Adding to that, the rise of the trend of home beauticians in Guwahati is also another factor that adds to local salon business’ woes. Since people have less time, they try to call a beautician

or barber at home to avail their services and thus, save time in traveling as the traffic in the city can be a major hindrance to most citizens. Thus, it is all interconnected and part of a cyclic process.

Some common services that people prefer to avail at home include waxing, threading, facials, manicure, pedicure, hair henna and hair colouring. Guwahatians are also buying more products online, such as face packs, face masks, hair masks and hair colour, in addition to many cosmetic products. Websites such as Nykaa and Myntra sell many such products at prices cheaper than market rates and customers can also avail many discounts.

However, this is not to say that the parlour business in Guwahati is dying or that people are not investing in personal care.

Guwahatians are investing in personal care but the trends on how they are doing it and how much they are investing in it has changed, which in turn is changing the functioning of the whole industry. n

18 Review

G PLUS | June 29 - July 05 , 2019

Starring: Ayushmann Khurrana, Manoj Pahwa, Kumud Mishra, Sushil Pandey, Sayani Gupta, Mohammad Zeeshan Ayyub Director: Anubhav Sinha

Movie Review

Article 15

A

rticle 15, Anubhav Sinha’s searing new film about the indignities endorsed by the caste-system in modern day India, does not play it cool. Inspired by the real-life Badaun killings — and paying stirring tribute to Alan Parker’s 1988 procedural thriller Mississippi Burning — this film about discrimination features policemen hushing up the murder and gang-rape of three 15-yearold girls because they belong to a ‘lower’ caste. Us, and them. It is a grim, unrelenting and essential film, one throwing up things we choose not to think about.

Written by Gaurav Solanki and Sinha, the film has the stench

of honesty. It is hauntingly shot by Ewan Mulligan, who is evocative while shooting a frying paratha, a murky bus and — most unforgettably — a man diving in and out of a drain, cleaning our world because we wouldn’t do it ourselves. There is a brief sequence showing a religious rally, and I don’t remember seeing a more authentic crowd: they’re virtually foaming at the mouth.

As policemen plod through a marsh, Ranjan asks about politics, and they casually state why they vote for the Elephant one year and the Cycle the next, and for the parties their mothers told them to always vote for. Rebels

use Whatsapp, and cops keep tabs on activism by seeing what messages are being forwarded.

The filmmakers, meanwhile, cannily use Whatsapp to educate the leading man, the messages from his level-headed wife becoming the voice in his head.

We do not need a hero, she tells him. We just need people to stop waiting for a hero.

Ayushmann Khurrana plays Ranjan with an inevitable entitlement.

The elitist indignation with which he barks orders gets things done, but also distances him from the policemen answering to him.

In one remarkable scene he matter-of-factly asks the cops about their places in the caste hierarchy, and the distinctions between caste-and-Kayastha are maddening. One says he is a Jaat, and was ‘normal,’ but has now been granted Other Backward Class status, while Jaats in other states have not. This is illegal, of course. Ranjan asking them their caste, I mean. Not the division but the pronouncement of it.

Khurrana is spot-on, consistently harrowed and, building on his everyman baggage as a leading man, immensely relatable. Here is an actor who is rarely showy and impressively true to the part, playing a protagonist who is aware he will be looked on as an upper-caste saviour, and that it isn’t his role.

What do you do when the system is the bad guy? There are no revelations here. Article 15 is not a film in search of easy answers. Instead, it is a reminder that we already know the questions but don’t ask them enough. Not cool, sir.

Review from Hindustan Times

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Motorola One Vision

M

otorola One Vision is the latest phone from the company and it aims to be more premium than the bread-and-butter Moto G-series. This new model ups the ante with a more modern design and upgraded camera hardware, while still retaining a competitive price at Rs. 19,999.

Design: The Motorola One Vision debuts a new design language for Motorola phones, adopting a curved glass profile with prominent rounded edges and a gradient design. The phone is offered in a choice of two colours: Bronze Gradient and Sapphire Gradient. Both are darker in the middle of the rear panel, gradually fading into chocolate brown and bright blue, respectively.

On closer inspection, one can see thin lines running horizontally across the rear panel beneath the

glossy layer. The Motorola One Vision’s design is eye-catching, and more importantly, it will stand out in a sea of other phones that sport a gradient aesthetic.

The Android One logo at the bottom and the batwing Moto emblem embossed on the rear-mounted fingerprint sensor have a silvery finish that provides a nice contrast.

The huge camera bump is an annoyance, and the rear panel is also quite smudge-prone.

The power button is located on the right and has ridges on it for easy identification. The volume rocker sits above it, but it is placed a

little too high and we found it quite difficult to reach without adjusting the phone.

Specifications and Software: The Motorola One Vision packs a 6.3-inch full-HD+ (1080 x 2520 pixels) IPS display with a density of 432ppi and 21:9 aspect ratio. It is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 3.

This new Motorola phone is powered by Samsung’s octa-core Exynos 9609 SoC clocked at 2.2GHz, which is basically a toned-down version of the Exynos 9610 that powers the Samsung Galaxy A50 ₹ 18,090 (Review) and runs slightly faster at 2.3GHz. Both processors share the same architecture and have a lot in common when it comes to their capabilities.

The Motorola One Vision packs 4GB of RAM and a generous 128GB of internal storage. The phone comes in just one configuration. It

is equipped with a relatively small 3,500mAh battery, which can quickly be topped up by the included 15W TurboPower adapter.

The Motorola One Vision marks a major stride forward for Motorola in terms of camera specifications, as it packs a 48-megapixel f/1.7 camera. The primary sensor on the Motorola One Vision is the Samsung Isocell GM1, which utilises Quad Pixel technology — pixel binning, in common terms — for combining four pixels into a single large one to capture more light, resulting in brighter and more detailed photos.

The 48-megapixel primary camera is assisted by a 5-megapixel

depth sensor. On the front is a 25-megapixel camera with an f/2.0 aperture sitting in the hole, which can also utilise pixel binning to deliver brighter selfies at a lower resolution.

Verdict: The Motorola One Vision stands out with its appealing design and 21:9 display with a hole punch.

Performance-wise, the Motorola One Vision proves to be a capable phone that can handle any task with ease. The camera output is also impressive, especially in the Night Vision mode. However, the implementation of the hole punch design and the underwhelming display quality don’t bode well for the Motorola One Vision. The battery life of the phone is not too good either.

Review from NDTV Gadget.

Trotter

G PLUS | June 29 - July 05 , 2019

‘Scented flatulence pills’ that make farts smell like roses now available

A

French man claims to have invented a pill which can transform the smell of your farts.

Gone are the days when your trumps smelt of egg or some other rotten substance; now your gas can have a range of aromas, smelling of everything from chocolate to violet. You can even make your farts smell like actual roses and it’s all thanks to Christian Poincheval.

The mastermind behind the bizarre product (called PilulePet) came up with the idea for the pills following a particularly foul smelling meal, where his dinner guests couldn’t stand the odours he was emitting.

He said, “We were at a table with friends after a copious meal when we nearly asphyxiated ourselves with our smelly farts.

That gas wasn’t great for our table neighbours, so something had to be done about this.” And thus his company, LutinMalin (Cunning

Imp) was born.

He began developing the pills in 2007 and now has a range of them, selling them in several different scents. The website adds: “The fart pill is the result of lengthy research and trials and is on sale since 2007. Our fragrant variants also add a touch of humour for any occasion.”

And it’s not just humans who can benefit - the website also offers fart powder for dogs.

The product description reads: “A natural food supplement for pets that fart. If you are tired of rolling down the car windows during long car trips, then this is for you!”

(Source: mirror.co.uk)

Naked scooter rider blames his condition on the heat wave in Germany

A

s Europe continues to roast, police were forced to pull over a man who was riding a scooter wearing nothing but a helmet and sandals. The naked rider claimed he was trying to cool down and simply defended his nudity by telling officers, “It’s too hot.” The force in Brandenburg lander, northeast Germany, shared images of the naked man on Twitter and wrote: “We can’t disagree with what he said.” They told the man to “put some pants on” and let him continue his trip. German

meteorologists announced today that the 1947 heat record for June was broken in Coschen, where 38.60 C was rerecorded, so who can blame him?

Temperatures are expected to exceed 400 C in many parts of the continent. Large parts of western and central Europe sweltered in scorching weather, with German authorities imposing motorway speed limits amid fears of buckling road surfaces and some French schools staying closed as a precaution.

O

visitors or exploitative of locals.

The sentiment, while wellintentioned, is questionable.

Just because the slum’s residents aren’t all visibly depressed doesn’t necessarily mean that rich visitors should feel uplifted. Dharavi’s residents are often literate and have electricity.

The disparity between how much visitors pay for this allegedly authentic Indian experience and how little slum dwellers survive on gives cause for some pause.

On Trip Advisor, a tour company called “Mystical Mumbai” offers a $162-per-adult private guided day

Penguin Pride at London Zoo as homage to gay penguins

L

ondon Zoo is holding a party for its gay penguins to coincide with the city’s main Pride Parade over the weekend of July 5.

Zookeepers gave some banners to their gay penguins with the words “Some penguins are gay, get over it,” as a homage to the charity Stonewall’s “Get Over It”

campaign. The zoo said: “Ronnie and Reggie got together in 2014, and famously adopted an egg that was abandoned by another couple

a year later. The pair shared parenting duties of their chick, Kyton, until he fledged the nest.

They remain as strong as ever and are often found snuggled up in their nest box together.”

The duo shares their home with 91 other penguins, including fellow same-sex couples Nadja and Zimmer, and Dev and Martin.

In May, it was revealed that more than half of the penguins at an aquarium in Ireland were in same-sex relationships.

The Gentoo penguins had adopted chicks together.

In April last year Geri Horner of Spice Girls fame was pictured with Ziggy, another one of London Zoo’s gay penguins.

(Source: metro.co.uk)

93-year-old woman ‘arrested’ to fulfil her dying wish

Authorities have warned that temperatures could top 400 C in parts of the continent over the coming days as a plume of dry, hot air moves north from Africa.

(Source: metro.co.uk)

Dharavi slum beats Taj Mahal as India’s most popular tourist draw

ne of the largest slums in Asia just became the favourite tourist “experience” for travellers to India in 2019, beating out classic draws like the legendary Taj Mahal.

TripAdvisor’s Travelers’ Choice Awards recognized tours to Dharavi in Mumbai as the top “experience” in India and among the Top-10 in the “Travelers’ Choice Experiences in Asia” category this year. The 553-acre slum in the heart of India’s commercial capital is home to more than a million people. It is bustling with industry and creativity. It is also a place where “shanty-homes line… narrow alleyways” and “open drains run along the ground, and electric cables hang overhead.”

Tours are offered by a number of Indian companies and are often led by guides who grew up in or currently live in Dharavi. According to the travel publication, Trip Savvy, the experience isn’t depressing for

19

trip that includes a visit to “both sides of the city its colonial-era grandeur and Dharavi slum.” It promises tourists a walk “through Dharavi’s lanes to see the dilapidated huts, cottage industries, recycling projects, and clay potters” and a view of modern and colonial Mumbai, all via private transportation. Rents in the slum start at about $4 a month on the low end, so a single tourist is spending in one day what would buy a resident more than three years of shelter.

Still, not everyone is comfortable with the notion of poverty being promoted as a tourist attraction, or sold on the possibility that visitors leave understanding what they saw. The long-term effects of lack of wealth on health and happiness can’t possibly be comprehended on a quick visit.

(Source: quartz)

O

ne of the UK’s largest police forces apparently arrested a 93-year-old woman who had committed no crime because it was her “dying wish.”

In a tweet that received more than a thousand likes, Pam Smith wrote to Greater Manchester police to thank them for the gesture towards her grandmother, Josie Birds.

“A big thank you to @gmpolice for ‘arresting’ my Gran Josie today,” she said. “She is 93 years old and her health is failing, and she wanted to be arrested for something before it’s too late. She has a heart of gold and thoroughly enjoyed it today. Thank you for granting her wishes.”

Smith said that Greater Manchester police had “made an old lady very happy” by arresting her grandmother, adding: “She is quite poorly and wanted to do something like this while she still has the strength to enjoy it. She’s been good all her life (she says....) and wanted to have an experience to remember! She’s a star.”

Greater Manchester police said in a statement: “A few weeks ago, a member of the community approached a GMP PCSO from the North Manchester division with a slightly unusual request.

“The woman mentioned that her

93-year-old grandmother had a request on her bucket list that she was hoping GMP would help her fulfil. The request was for the grandmother to be ‘arrested’ and be taken to one of our police stations so she could experience what it was like to be on the wrong side of the law.”

Chief Inspector Denise Pye of the force’s City of Manchester division said, “The focus of our PCSOs is heavily driven by our community and how we can support them.

On this occasion, and for a short period of time, we were able to ful-

fil the wishes of an elderly lady and give her a day to remember.”

It is not the first incident of its kind. In March, Anne Brokenbrow, 104, had her wish of being arrested granted, after relaying her desire to her Bristol care home.

Brokenbrow said it was an enjoyable experience: “I had a lovely day, it was interesting. Nothing like that ever happened to me before. They put the handcuffs on, I had the lot.”

(Source: theguardian)

20 Fun Jayashree Bose

3rd July will be a great day to share ideas with seniors or simply just connect with them. You could schedule important meetings on this day. On 5th July, you need to be wary of dealing with the opposite gender. Avoid drinking with your work mates, seniors or parents on 29th June.

Watch out on 29th June, avoid confrontations with clients or people at work. 30th June & 1st July will be great days to connect with seniors & share ideas with them, you could host important meetings on these dates. On 2nd July, be careful while dealing with the opposite gender.

29th June & 4th July will be great days to share ideas with seniors or simply just connect with them. You could schedule important meetings on these dates. Avoid making any promises on 30th June, as you will have to live up to them. 3rd July will be a slow day for you.

29th June will be a great day to share your ideas with seniors & build a relationship with them. On 30th June & 3rd July, you could have issues with seniors & your parents. Avoid hosting any meetings on these dates.

On 5th July, you could be betrayed or emotionally hurt by someone close to you.

Certified Feng Shui, Chinese astrology, date selection consultant & author, jbose@jayashreebose.com

Use 30th June, 1st & 3rd July to connect with your boss & share ideas. For good results, host meetings on these dates. You could have Sunday brunch with seniors or your parents. 4th June will be a slow day. Avoid hosting any important meetings on 2nd July, as things will not go according to plan.

29th June & 3rd July will be excellent days to schedule important meetings. Your seniors will be receptive to your ideas. On 1st July, you could feel your seniors or parents are ungrateful, they don’t appreciate you.

Avoid hosting any meetings, especially with seniors or important clients on 4th July. You are bound to have disagreements.

Sudoku 4

8

2 8 7 4 5 6 4 3 9 6 1 2 7 5 8 9 5 8 1 1 4 8 7 1 7 9 2 5 3 6 3 Daily Sudoku: Fri 28-Jun-2019 3 5 9

5

1

1 4 2 4

7 8 4 6 1 7 8 1 8 6 6

hard

2

Daily Sudoku: Thu 20-Jun-2019

On 3rd & 5th July, you could be betrayed by someone at work & emotionally hurt by your family. 30th June, 1st & 4th July will be great days to share ideas with seniors or simply just connect with them. You could schedule important meetings on these dates. Avoid hosting any meetings, especially with seniors & important clients on 2nd July.

1st & 5th July will be great days to build a rapport with seniors & people at work, host important meetings on these dates. On 30th June & 3rd July, avoid making any promises.

On 3rd July, avoid hosting any meetings, you will have disagreements. On 2nd July, you could be emotionally hurt by seniors or parents.

5th July will be an ideal day to share ideas with your boss or connect with people at work & family. Avoid socializing or making any promises on 1st & 4th July. Avoid hosting any meetings on 4th July, as you are bound to have disagreements.

3rd July will be a great day to build your relationship with seniors & people at work.

On 30th June, you will be emotionally hurt either by your parents or seniors. If you are in a habit of grabbing a drink with your seniors, avoid doing so on 2nd July. On 5th July, you could have a disagreement with your seniors or work associates, not a day to schedule important meetings.

Watch yourself on 30th June & 3rd July, avoid making any promises or getting into a confrontation. On 29th June, you could have a disagreement with seniors, work associates or parents. Share your ideas with seniors or generally build a relationship with people at work on 4th & 5th July, host important meetings on these dates.

4th & 5th July are ideal days to mingle with seniors, people at work & build your work network. Be careful with your words & actions on 1st July as you will create your own problems. Avoid hosting any meetings on 2nd July, there will be last minute changes.

What, according to most food experts, is the main difference between Biryani and Pilaf or Pulao?

3.

What is the name given to a tract of land lying between two converging or confluence of rivers?

4.

“Vibra el Continente” (Rocking the Continent) is the official slogan and theme song of which ongoing sporting tournament which first started in 1916?

5.

Which capital city of South America, established in 1541 by Spanish conqueror, Pedro de Valdivia, located by the Machoco River, literally means Saint James?

6.

Identify this famous boxer known popularly as the “Brown Bomber.”

Dr. Soubhadra Chakrabarty This quiz has been brought to you by Brain Jam, a property of Priya Communications

Dilbert By Scott Adams

7 8 3 6 4 5 2 9 1 hard

http://www.dailysudoku.com/

http://www.dailysudoku.com/

Word of the week symposiarch knackered noun adjective [sim-poh-zee-ahrk] [nak-erd]

curio-city

2.

1.

2.

Which prolific Assamese author’s first published short story was “Bhaona” in 1954?

Lakshmi Nandan Bora The single most important difference is that Biryani is cooked with a layer of meat/vegetables in between two layers of rice, while in Pulao, the rice and meat/vegetables are cooked together Doab, which literally means tongue.

Copa America Santiago, capital of Chile Joe Louis

1.

hard

4 last 7 2week 9 8solution 3 5 6 1 6 3 8 2 5 1 7 4 9 5 4 8 7 3 2 1 6 9 9 5 1 6 7 4 8 2 3 9 7 6 5 1 8 3 4 2 5 6 4 1 9 8 2 3 7 3 1 2 9 6 4 5 8 7 1 2 3 7 6 5 9 8 4 8 9 1 4 2 7 6 5 3 8 9 7 3 4 2 6 1 5 6 3 5 8 9 1 7 2 4 7 1 9 4 2 6 3 5 8 4 2 7 3 5 6 9 1 8 3 8 6 5 1 7 4 9 2 1 5 4 2 7 9 8 3 6 2 4 5 8 3 9 1 7 6 2 Sudoku: 6 Fri928-Jun-2019 1 8 3 4 7 5hard Daily Daily Sudoku: Thu 20-Jun-2019

3.

4.

5.

6.

curio-city

Slang. aBritish toastmaster. exhausted; very tired

Crossword Across

Down

1 Loosely woven cloth from Scotland (6,5) 9 Impromptu (9) 10 Animal (with nine nine tails?) (3) 11 Himalayan country (5) 13 Excellent — shining bright? (7) 14 On ship (6) 15 Purist (6) 18 Arctic deer — a Rio cub (anag) (7) 20 Best possible (5) 21 See 23 22 Fling (9) 24 Fifth book of the Bible

(c) Daily Sudoku Ltd 2019. All rights reserved. (c) Daily Sudoku Ltd 2019. All rights reserved.

These predictions are based on the month of birth and are about an individual’s work environment, parents and extended family.

(c) Daily Sudoku Ltd 2019. All rights reserved. (c) Daily Sudoku Ltd 2019. All rights reserved.

Horoscope of the week

G PLUS | June 29 - July 05 , 2019

2 Fit (3) 3 Person whose speech is not well organised (7) 4 Married partner (6) 5 In which position? (5) 6 Acquit — clear (9) 7 Entertainment area with coin-operated machines (5,6) 8 Narrator (11) 12 TV show (9) 16 Issue (7) 17 Male domestic servant (6) 19 Bathroom basin (5) 23, 21 UK resident who the tax man accepts as having their "true" home elsewhere (abbr) (3-3)

Last week’s solution

Fiction

G PLUS | June 29 - July 05 , 2019

The mystery of the strumming guitar

B

y the mid 70’s I had become quite habituated to my bachelor life style and besides that, I was very happy both with the all-round development work in our tea garden as well as my outdoor hobbies - especially in the winter months. The tea production period from March to early December was all work and planters were always kept busy with one variety of work or the other. During these months the only diversion was going to the weekly club days for some tennis and the movies once a month. At times, some of us bachelor friends also used to meet up especially after attending the district club at Bishwanath Charali and spend the night in one of the bungalows close to the club instead of driving home late at night. In particular, I had a good friend called Partho Sen who was the Factory Assistant manager at a garden called Pabhoi and I usually spent the night in his spare bedroom. One night after a happy evening at this club we were back in his place relaxing over a glass of whiskey and he was telling me about his inability to sleep well at night due to certain disturbances.

The story goes that a young Irish man who had come to join tea way back in the 1940s was posted in the same bungalow he was occupying and had died after a serious bout of malaria. My friend initially had no problems but after a new chowkidar was assigned to his bungalow he found that

the worker was acting quite worried and he used to keep on talking loudly to himself at night which used to wake my friend up.

Naturally after a night or two of this he accosted the man and asked him why he was disturbing him in this manner and then he heard the story about the Irishman - one Patrick O’Connor - with whom the present chowkidar’s father was working in the bungalow as a bearer. The sahib had died a painful death with fever raging in his body and he had alternate fits of coldness and severe shivers with subsequent heavy sweating.

The garden management tried its best and also sent him off to the mission hospital at Tezpur which was the best equipped in those days but the Second World War had taken a toll on the facilities and Patrick perished there one night.

His body was brought back to Pabhoi and he was in fact buried in the cemetery behind a church nearby as it was impossible to send back a dead body in those days to his country of origin. After a few months some of his family members came all the way from England to pay their last respects in the graveyard. They had also erected a tombstone during their visit. These types of incidents always created ghost stories and sure enough, after some time, our Patrick evolved into a benign spirit who was often seen wandering about the bungalow and the little flower garden that was attached to the house. As most of the tea gardens had such stories no one actually worried much except

Partho, who was perspiring heavily, sat down on the bed and pointing towards the cupboard said that he saw someone there who walked up to him and tried to speak to him when he cried out in fear.

His body felt very cold to the touch and then I also walked towards the cupboard and felt a cold chill run down my spine for a brief moment. for the workers - especially when they drank too much hariya (local garden liquor) and gossiped about seeing the mystery sahib walking around with a bent head and at times, crying out in pain.

Partho was a very talented person who, apart from excelling in his main work of manufacturing teas with great flavour and cup quality, was also a great tennis player and a good cricketer. He could cook quite well and on many occasions used to put on some music on his record player while he flitted in and out of the kitchen, talking and entertaining his guests. Now, in the beginning, he

21

Ranjan Kumar Choudhury ranjanchou@hotmail.com

did not pay any attention at all to the stories of Patrick and only felt some sadness at a young man who had to perish so far away from his home. However, after that evening when he confided in me about his night chowkidar and his late father’s visions of seeing the spirit of the dead planter wandering around, he began to lose sleep until he developed dark circles under his eyes and became listless without his normal exuberance and sporty attitude to life. He stopped playing tennis at his normal high standards and just went through the motions and his seniors started talking about the change in him. As his good friend I wanted to spend more time with him but we were living about 40 kms apart and we generally met up only around two times a month when I went to the district club.

I remember that night very well; there was a good movie shown at the club - The Pink Panther - and we had both enjoyed the same and after dinner we left as soon as his manager drove off, following him at a distance. I had left my car at his bungalow and the effect of the drinks was slowly warming my body. So I decided to sleep as soon as we got back.

After an hour or so I suddenly heard a scream which woke me up and I sat upright in my bed trying to fathom the sound. Again it came, this time I could make out from my friend’s room to which I rushed and knocked on his door.

By this time the chowkidar had also arrived and he was muttering about the “bhoot” when my friend opened the door and caught my arm to steady himself. We entered his room, put on the lights but did not see anything.

Partho, who was perspiring heavily, sat down on the bed and pointing towards the cupboard said that he saw someone there who walked up to him and tried to speak to him when he cried out in fear.

His body felt very cold to the touch and then I also walked towards the cupboard and felt a cold chill run down my spine for a brief moment.

I do not and did

not want to succumb to such thoughts of the super natural but the poor chowkidar had got his fears confirmed and started to weep silently. I quickly picked up the whisky bottle from his cabinet and poured out three stiff drinks which I gave to my friend first, then to the crying man and taking my glass I led them out to the sitting room where my friend and I sat down to pass the remaining night in two sofas while the chowkidar sat down in the verandah outside. We hardly talked and slowly sipped our drinks and must have dozed off waking up when it became light outside. I told Partho not to worry and that such things are not real but only in our minds and over breakfast later I saw that he had recovered and laughed off the incident.

I met him again after a couple of weeks and found out that he had no further sighting of the apparition he had seen and he was in fact quite busy and excited about his transfer letter to a garden near Tinsukia. I did feel bad at losing a good friend but these things were common in tea and as I was stationary in our garden I had seen many good friends come and go. He came to visit me one last time in my bungalow and I had arranged a nice farewell for him with some other common friends. I was happy that my friend would be resuming his career in a different garden and wished him all the best. That night as everyone left I lay in bed and was trying to fall asleep when I heard some sounds from my guitar which I had purchased recently and was learning to play the same from a guide book.

I had kept my guitar in the box room adjacent to my bedroom when I heard the unmistakable sounds of the chords strumming by itself; at once I remembered Partho’s incident and was very intrigued as to who was strumming the guitar. I very quietly went to the door with a torch and quickly opened it shining the light on the guitar.

It was lying in the same position I had kept it and one big rat was running up and down creating the sounds I had heard. I was half hoping to see someone there but the rat was a complete surprise. It just shows how we imagine a lot of things which are in our subconscious and comes out at times to haunt us. From the time I solved the mystery of the mystical guitar strings I was fully exorcised of all spirits and bhoots and whenever a fellow planter friend would cite a spirit story I would have my counter point ready to cure him of his misgivings. n

22 Lifestyle

G PLUS | June 29 - July 05 , 2019

Vaastu: The Rudraksh Hemanta Kumar Sarmah Engineer, Businessman, Advanced Pranic Healer and Su Jok Acupressure specialist.

T

he recently concluded Ambubachi Mela at Kamakhya Temple, Guwahati saw thousands of yogis, sadhus and tantriks from all parts of the country. All of them were wearing beads (Mala) consisting of Rudraksh. Have you ever wondered why the Rudraksh is worn by people?

Rudraksha means the eye of Rudra [Shiva] which is considered to be very potent. Rudraksha is often believed to symbolize the link between earth and heaven.

These beads are the seeds of the Rudraksha fruit obtained from Rudraksha trees. It is the most powerful and awesome bead ever.

This bead can help you achieve all you want – a healthy mind, body and soul, a wealthy life that many dream of and only some achieve, and a happy you making you the target of many an envy.

The Rudraksh trees are found in the foothills of Himalayan region, China and southeast Asian countries. No single tree is as

rich with scriptural references, spiritual myths and legends as the Rudraksha. Its berries, which are said to represent the tears of Rudra, have long been sought for their supposed medicinal and

magical properties.

The Rudrajabalopanishad tells us that Lord Shiva was in a state of meditation for many thousands of years. When he opened his eyes from his prolonged samadhi, he beheld the whole vast sufferings

and pangs of the unenlightened beings enmeshed in their struggle and confusion, and lacking any way of recognising their plight and the possibility of evolving themselves out of these seemingly insurmountable difficulties.

Out of compassion, tears came to his eyes and these fell to the earth giving rise to a tree called Maharudraksha. Rudra is the name given to Shiva in his destructive form and in Sanskrit it means ‘howl’ or ‘cause of tears.’

Rudraksha seeds exhibit pharmacological properties that include anti-inflammatory, analgesic, sedative, antidepressant, anti-asthmatic, hypoglycemic, antihypertensive, smooth muscle relaxant, hydrocholeretic, antiulcerogenic, and anticonvulsant.

In Ayurveda, the bead, bark and leaves of the Rudraksha tree, which have antibacterial effects, are used for treating mental disorders, headaches, fever, skin diseases and other ailments. The flesh or pulp of the drupe is administered for epilepsy, diseases of the head and mental illness. The Rudraksh seed has several faces/ridges or mukhs. It is believed that

Coriander: Your kitchen doctor

It’s like what a glass of water feels on a sunny day,

T

Practical Applications: Diarrhea and allergy: Soak 1 tsp coriander seeds in water overnight. Parboil,

Have you tasted life yet?

Have you ever tasted love?

Nisha Manikanthan hat must-have sprinkle of chopped coriander leaves that zings up your bowl of steaming soup or your favorite pav-bhaji also packs a lot of medicinal punch.

Its leaves, stems, seeds and roots, each offer a different flavor.

Some of its alternate names include Coriandrum Sativum, which is its botanical name. In English, this power-packed green herb is also known as “Cilantro” and “Chinese parsley.” In Sanskrit, it is called “Dhanyaka” and “Dhania” in Hindi.

Benefits: The picture-pretty leaves are a powerful natural cleansing agent.

They have been effectively used to cleanse heavy metals and toxic agents from the body. Coriander is used to treat allergy, burning micturition (burning sensation while passing urine) and allergic dermatitis. It improves vitality and decreases pain. Rich in iron and vitamins A, B and C, it increases the nutritive value when used in food.

Increases digestibility of food and can decrease appetite.

the ekmukhi or one faced Rudraksh is very powerful.

There is a custom of wearing 108 Rudraksha beads in India, particularly within Shaivism, due to their association with Shiva, who wears Rudraksha garlands. The mantra, Om Namah Shivaye is repeated (Japa) using Rudraksha beads. Hindus have used Rudraksha malas as rosaries for meditation purposes and to sanctify the mind, body and soul for a long time. n

Smells like cookies in the oven, Or like chicken soup when you’re sick in bed.

Have you ever tasted passion?

It’s like the oregano you sprinkle on your pizza, Or the ketchup you take with your fries.

It’s something that adds zing to your life. strain, and drink.

Headache: Apply juice of tender coriander leaves over forehead.

Excess menstrual bleeding: Take concentrated decoction of coriander seeds with milk added.

Conjunctivitis: Wash eyes regularly with juice of coriander leaves. Intake of decoction of coriander seeds soothes dry, inflamed eyes.

Pimples and black heads: Apply juice of tender coriander leaves, with a pinch of turmeric in it. Apply on face, let dry and then wash off.

Insect bite: Drink 6-7 spoons of leaf-juice and

apply paste of the leaves over the bite.

Mouth ulcers: Drink coriander seed decoction and gargle with it.

Halitosis (Bad Breath): Chew coriander seeds frequently.

Skin blisters: Drink seed-decoction. Boil 1 spoon of coriander seeds in water, make a paste of it and apply on the affected area.

Dryness of mouth, stomach pain, piles: Drink coriander-seeds decoction.

Nosebleed: Apply coriander-leaf juice to the nose.

(The author is a Senior Ayurveda Consultant of the Art of Living, www.artofliving.org)

Have you ever tasted fear?

It’s like chocolate shake for someone Whose lactose intolerant, Or like cake for a diabetic.

Have you ever tasted life?

It’s like Earl Grey tea, It can be bitter sometimes and Too hot to haste through, It’s something you go slow with, Enjoying the aroma and filling your lungs with it, Taking small sips in peace, Living a little in each sip, Dying a little at every pause.

Antriksh Somany

Entertainment

G PLUS | June 29 - July 05 , 2019

23

Hengool theatre to release three NE India’s first cinematic 3D Android game all set new plays this season Kalyan Kumar Kalita

H

engool Theatre, known for presenting realistic dramas with strong social themes, is going to stage three plays in this new season. Last year, all the three dramas performed by Hengool Theatre troupe created history in the mobile theatre industry in terms of highest ticket sales across Assam.

This year, people are expecting more from this theatre troupe following last year’s success.

Hengool will stage three dramas from three different playwrights. The highlight of the event is youth storytellerjournalist and lyricist Rajdweep’s “Bahadur.”

The central character of this drama will be played by popular actor of film and mobile theatre, Prasenjit Borah. From Boliya Krishna to Bonoriya, the RajdweepPrasenjit pair has given three commercially hit dramas at Hengool Theatre.

The other cast members include Nirnali S Borah, Devasree Gogoi, Barnali Baruah, Mahesh Bora, Kalyanjyoti, Dipjyoti Nath, Alakesh Hazarika, Debajit Bora, Dhrubajyoti Dhekiyal Phukan, Jayanta Barman,

Chitta, Ranjit Barman among others.

The other two plays that Hengool will stage this year are

Himangshu Prasad Das’s “Miss Rukmini Haran” and Pranab Baruah’s “Chumbak.”

P

N

ortheast India’s first cinematic 3D Android game, Mission China, is all set for release in the Google Play store on June

29.

The game is based on a 2017 Assamese film of the same name

directed by Zubeen Garg. The game has been developed by Anshuman Gogoi and Ankurjyoti Hatiboruah from Sivasagar.

The game allows a single user to play multiple characters and currently, it has eight characters in total.

Assam’s first sci-fi superhero film to release by 2020

Papon participates in World Music Day concert in Kolkata opular singer from Assam, Papon, participated in the World Music Day concert held in Kolkata on June 20 at Nazrul Manch. He sang “Ami je jalshagare” originally sung

by Manaa Dey and “Beqarar Karke Hume” by Hemant Kumar and his own “Moh Moh Ke Dhage.”

The World Music Day concert, organised annually by musicians Sourendro and Soumyojjit in Kolkata, is an effort to conceptualise Indian music against the backdrop of an international soundscape. Over the years, the concerts have presented a wide range of pan-Indian subjects - the story of the Kohinoor diamond, the history of Indian film music, the Mahabharat etc, through global musical forms such as jazz, rock and roll and Broadway style musicals.

The concert celebrated 100 years of two great icons of Indian music: Hemant Kumar and Manna Dey. It showcased musicians from across the nation who came together to pay tribute to and celebrate these legends. Noted figures such as Asha Bhonsle, Sadhana Sargam from Maharashtra, Benny Dayal from Kerala, Kaushiki Chakraborty

for release

and Anupam Roy from Calcutta, and Papon from Assam all came

together to collectively lend their voices to two national icons.

A

ssam’s first scifi superhero film, “Advitya” will release by 2020, according to the director and writer of the film, Arindam Sharma.

Sharma said that this is an exciting venture for him as well as for everyone involved in the project as this is the first time something like this is being done

in Assam. Sharma and his team are working hard on the VFX of the film.

The film stars Chiranjib Dutta, noted actor Nipon Goswami, television actors Ajay Barman, Gitashree Bora and Bikash Borah while Niha Rani Das will make her debut through the film. Recently, a teaser for the film was released on YouTube.

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Pleasant sprinkles from heaven | Photo Surajit Sharma

Doul Govinda Temple

D

oul Govinda Temple is one of the most important temples in Kamrup, Assam.

It is situated on the northern banks of Brahmaputra, at the foothills of Chandra Bharati hill at Rajaduar, North Guwahati.

The temple is mainly devoted to Lord Krishna. The temple is open and accessible all year round and one can enjoy the thrill of a river cruise as well as walking on the white sand beaches of Brahmaputra, from the

month of November to April.

The temple is known for its Holi celebrations in the month of FebruaryMarch. Holi is observed by locals for five days with various programmes.

About 5,000 pilgrims assemble at the temple premises during this time.

Special ferry services are also available to the temple from Guwahati during the festival season.

Daily activities of the Doul Govinda Temple start early, with the opening

of the doors at seven in the morning. The priest bathes the idol and then performs the archana. The worshippers start coming in an hour after this, which continues till the end of the day. In between that, the temple remains closed during the afternoon.

In the evening, the aarti is performed by singing devotional songs or Kirtan.

Prasad followed by Bhog is distributed among the devotees in the open hall during afternoon hours daily.

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Phone: 0361 2522444, Email: info@g-plus.in, RNI No: ASSENG/2013/52641